Staten Island Summer

Staten Island Summer (2015) is an American comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Director Rhys Thomas made it for Netflix from a script by Colin Jost — Saturday Night Live veteran — and stacked the cast with SNL regulars: Cecily Strong, Fred Armisen, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Moynihan and Will Forte all show up.

Danny and Frank are eighteen, newly graduated and spending their last summer before college as lifeguards at a public pool in Staten Island. They argue about girls, drink too much at parties, and slowly realize this particular August is the last one that belongs entirely to them. Jim Gaffigan and Kate Walsh handle the adult subplot with their own low-key charm. Method Man appears in a role nobody expects.

The film is straightforward about what it is: an easygoing coming-of-age comedy built on the specific texture of a New York City summer. Jost wrote from experience — he grew up on Staten Island — and that specificity keeps things from going stale. Good for a laid-back evening watch. Stream Staten Island Summer (2015) on iFILM.