Fire Island: Film Review
We have had several gay romantic comedies in recent years (I’m a big fan of Love, Simon) but Fire Island feels like the most proudly queer romcom that I’ve ever seen.
Inspired by Pride and Prejudice, the film follows Noah (Joel Kim Booster), Howie (Bowen Yang) and their three friends as they go to Fire Island – the popular gay destination off Long Island, New York – for their traditional summer holiday. Noah, who is super buff and has no problem attracting men, makes it his mission to get the nerdy and sensitive Howie laid before the week is over. He even decides to abstain from sex himself until Howie is successful – a vow he finds very difficult to keep.
Fire Island is a lot of fun and I had such a good time with it. Booster’s sharp, relatable screenplay has an excellent sense of humour and hilarious pop culture references and it really speaks to the economic times we live in. It is pretty funny – I howled with laughter about Noah asking, ‘What will I look at when I s**t?!’ when his phone dies – and there are some brilliant bitchy lines. Plus, the music in the film is ace and I hope this inspires a resurgence of Britney Spears’ Sometimes.
Booster and Yang are real-life friends and that chemistry really shines through. They were the standouts in the cast and I enjoyed their central friendship. Their conversations were funny but there’s also some conflict there – they have different approaches to sex and relationships but Noah can’t see that what works for him may not work for Howie. My other favourite was Margaret Cho as Erin, a lesbian mother figure who lets the boys stay at her house.
With every Pride and Prejudice-inspired film, there has to be a Mr. Darcy substitute, and in Fire Island, that’s Will (Conrad Ricamora), an uptight, snobby lawyer. He was the biggest letdown for me because I didn’t care if he and Noah got together or not. They were just a bit too different.
Most (not all) gay romcoms are sanitised and kept PG for mass appeal as industry figures think straight people won’t watch it otherwise. Fire Island doesn’t fall into this trap – it is loud and proud and if you don’t like that kind of thing, then don’t watch it! It’s also a bit more grown-up than your usual romcom – there’s sex, drug-taking, rude jokes and plenty of butts on display.
Like all romcoms, Fire Island is a little predictable, but I didn’t care because I just enjoyed being in the company of these friends for almost two hours.
On Disney+ from Friday 3rd June