Staten
Island Summer is based on a script written by preppy "Saturday
Night Live" head writer Colin Jost, whom series fans will
know as one of the anchors for its "Weekend Update" segment. The
film is produced by SNL's head, Lorne Michaels, which likely explains
the plethora of the show's cast, both past and present, being involved
with the film in supporting roles, including Jost himself playing one
of the police officers. It's a first time effort for Jost, and
it shows, telling an oft-told coming-of-age story about a young man's
experiences in the summer prior to going off to college.
Set in Staten Island in a nondescript year (it feels like it is
supposed to be set in the past, yet contains modern smart phones), a
young Jost stand-in named Graham Phillips (Evan
Almighty, "The Good Wife") stars as Danny, on the verge of
leaving for his first year at Harvard, finishing out his final stint
working his summer job at the Great Kills Swim Club. Danny's
parents want to take a family road trip to Disney World before he
heads off, but Danny wants to put the kibosh on that when older local
beauty, Krystal Menicucci (Greene, Wish
I Was Here), a mob princess he has had the biggest crush on
since she used to babysit him many years back, befriends him. On the
hope of kindling something with Krystal before he heads off for good,
Danny and best bud Frank (Pearlman, The Virginity Hit)
decide to throw a huge party at the pool, inviting all the cool
kids, while also trying to avoid their total prick of a boss, Chuck
(O'Brien), who has strictly forbidden the notion.
Some viewers will likely be reminded of another feature film featuring
a couple of "Saturday Night Live" alums, 1980's
Caddyshack, which also features a
main protagonist named Danny, a bunch of slacker co-employees doing a
job they barely care for, trying to get around the authoritarians who
seem to take the respectability of the place seriously. It even
features some vermin to get rid of, replacing Caddyshack's
gopher with a bunch of nesting hornets that Fred Armisen's (Easy
A) maintenance guy character, Victor, is having a devil of a
time getting rid of, including just about destroying the swim park in
the attempt. There's no errant Baby Ruth in the movie, however, so
it's not a rip-off, even if it decidedly swims in the same comedic
pool.
Unfortunately, it isn't a comparison that works in its favor, as it
will likely make viewers itchy to watch Caddyshack for the
umpteenth time than sit through a movie that hasn't a tenth of the
laughs.
Jost brings in plenty of
semiautobiographical details into his film, but ratchets up the
Apatow-esque debauchery for the movie to include lots of drug jokes,
copious amounts of teen drinking, loss of virginity gags, and even
brandished guns, swapping out Caddyshack for
Superbad-inspired crude pot and
partying revelry. Unfortunately, by going for the broadest and
raunchiest of jokes possible, the film loses its claim to earn the
touching, bittersweet coming-of-age beats that it expects us to be on
board with in the end. If it could have been one or the
other, we might have a pleasant nostalgic summer surprise here,
instead of a collection of scenes and characters that merely make you
nostalgic for other films you enjoyed much better. Jost seems
likeable, but it's fitting that after the summer he'll go back to
being one of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players" on SNL.
Qwipster's rating
