| Fire Island | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Andrew Ahn |
| Written by | Joel Kim Booster |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Felipe Vara de Rey |
| Edited by | Brian A. Kates |
| Music by | Jay Wadley |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Searchlight Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million[1] |
Fire Island is a 2022 Americanromantic comedy film directed byAndrew Ahn and written by and starringJoel Kim Booster. The film co-starsBowen Yang,Conrad Ricamora,James Scully, andMargaret Cho. The plot follows a group of gay friends on vacation at thetitular New York island, where romance becomes complicated byclassism in a story inspired byJane Austen'sPride and Prejudice. Distributed and produced bySearchlight Pictures, the film was released June 3, 2022 onHulu, to generally positive reviews.
Every year, Noah and his close friends Howie, Luke, Keegan, and Max embark on a weeklong vacation toFire Island, noted for itsgay villages. The group takes theferry fromSayville, New York onLong Island'sSouth Shore toFire Island Pines and reunite with their "house mother" Erin. Erin reveals that she has to sell her house, making this the last week they will spend together on the island. The group meets Charlie, a doctor, and his wealthy friends, including Will, a lawyer, and Cooper. Howie and Charlie take interest in each other. Noah decides that his mission for the trip is for Howie to get laid. Charlie invites the group to his house, where the group gets drunk, feeling condescended to by the other guests. Luke and Keegan cause a scene as Charlie and Howie get closer. Noah overhears Will criticizing the group, worrying that Charlie might get ripped off, and saying Noah is 'fine' but 'not hot enough to be that annoying'.
Howie spends the night in the bath tub and the next day, Noah goes to collect him. He invites Charlie and his friends to dinner at Erin's as a thank you for looking after Howie. At the grocery store, Noah meets Dex and they flirt. Upon discovering that Will dislikes Dex, Noah invites Dex to dinner as well. Charlie, Cooper, and Will arrive for dinner, and Will spots an Alice Munro book belonging to Noah. To both Will's and Noah's surprise, they hit it off by discussing books. Dex arrives, flanked by Luke and Keegan, making Will uncomfortable. Dex claims that Will judges him for making content onOnlyFans.
Howie tells the group that he and Charlie kissed, making Noah more intent on making the two a match. The group attends the weekly underwear party inCherry Grove and do an assortment of illicit drugs. Cooper implies to Noah that he wants Will for himself and accuses Noah's growing attraction to Will of being based on money.
Noah meets up with Dex again. They head to thedark room to have sex, but Noah is distracted by Will and accidentally hits Dex in the nose. This causes a public confrontation between Cooper, Will, Dex, and Noah, during which Noah sees Charlie making out with another man who turns out to be Charlie's ex, Reese. Noah gathers his intoxicated friends and a distraught Howie. Noah walks back to the Pines with Will and they fight. Noah accuses Will of being uptight and judgmental, and Will tells Noah that Noah is pretentious even if he pretends not to be. At an afterparty in the Pines, Howie and Noah fight. Howie wants to give up on searching for romance and tells Noah that their experiences are not the same just because they are both gay and Asian, citing issues ofbody dysmorphia.
Noah is woken up the next day by his friends delivering a letter from Will, in which he apologizes for the remarks he made after he first met Noah and explains that Dex hurt someone close to him in the past. Charlie arrives to tell Howie that he has gotten back together with Reese, who hasLyme disease, and will be leaving the island sooner than expected.
Noah runs into Will at adrag bar. Will shows Noah Dex'sInstagram profile, on which he poststhirst traps with activism tags ("Black Lives Matter" and "Stop Asian Hate") to get attention. Noah and Will grow closer. Later, the group learn that Dex has posted a video of him and Luke having sex online without Luke's consent. Will helps Noah confront Dex by threatening legal action. Dex agrees to take down the video.
The next day, Howie tells Noah he is leaving because he cannot get over Charlie's rejection. Noah confronts Charlie, who acknowledges that he has feelings for Howie. Noah and his friends hijack a water taxi to catch up to Howie. Charlie express his feelings to Howie, and they kiss. The group goes to watch the sunset. Noah and Will dance together and finally kiss, agreeing to give their relationship a try.
Streaming television networkQuibi announced development of a comedy series titledTrip in September 2019, starring, created, and written byJoel Kim Booster.[2][3] The project was given a series order on March 11, 2020, withJax Media set to produce.[2]Bowen Yang was cast in a lead role on April 15, 2020. Booster and Yang, who are both out gay Asian comedians and "life-changing" friends, were set to play fictionalized versions of themselves.[4][5]Closet Monster filmmakerStephen Dunn was attached to direct the series.[4] Upon theshutdown of Quibi on December 1, 2020, the entire project was jeopardized.[6]
Searchlight Pictures announced the purchase of Booster's script on June 30, 2021, to produce as a feature film re-titledFire Island.Spa Night directorAndrew Ahn replaced Dunn as director.[7] The following month,Margaret Cho joined the cast of the film, as the only woman to be part of the film's cast.[8]Conrad Ricamora,James Scully,Matt Rogers, Tomas Matos, Torian Miller, andNick Adams were added to the film in August 2021, withZane Phillips, Michael Graceffa, Aidan Wharton, Peter Smith, and Bradley Gibson joining the ensemble cast.[9]Principal photography began August 12, 2021, and was scheduled to last through September 2021, with filming taking place inManhattan,Brooklyn, andFire Island, the locale of the film's title.[10] The final script incorporated humorous topics the filmmakers had long shared as friends.[11]
InFire Island,Joel Kim Booster reimaginesJane Austen'sPride and Prejudice through a queer lens, transporting the classic themes miscommunication and romance to the contemporary setting ofFire Island, New York. The adaptation introduces a group of gay men who frequentFire Island, drawing parallels betweenJoel Kim Booster's personal experiences and those depicted in Austen's novel.[12] Through its queer adaptation of a classic novel,Fire Island challenges conventional narratives ofromance andrelationships. Booster subverts traditionalgender roles andheteronormative expectations, offering a fresh perspective on love, desire, and societal norms.[13] The film invites viewers to reconsider preconceived notions of romance and embrace diverse expressions of love and desire that are expressed through the movie and often overlooked in Austen's original writing. "Fire Island" serves as both a tribute toJane Austen's themes and a celebration ofqueer identity and community.[12]
The film portrays the ways in which queer individuals assess one another, drawing from their own experiences of discrimination and marginalization to perpetuate a hierarchical class system seen in a straight community as way to elevate their own social status within the community.[14] The characters navigate the intricacies ofsocial class within thequeer community, even in a space likeFire Island, where traditionalheterosexual norms are absent.Joel Kim Booster, thescreenwriter, draws parallels between Austen's exploration of class struggles and the dynamics observed within the queer community. He emphasizes how, in the absence of straight oppression, queer individuals can inadvertently recreate artificialclass systems andhierarchies.[14]
Similar to Austen's novel, the forging of relationships across perceived class lines is also impacted by these biases, as Howie finds himself enamored with Charlie, a charming doctor who is part of a group of affluent and judgmental individuals.[15] Among Charlie's friends is Will, theMr. Darcy to Noah'sLizzie for adaptation. As these social circles intertwine, tensions escalate with the characters being made to feel unwelcome in Charlie's upper-class circle, with Noah and Will exchanging both flirtations and sharp remarks.[16]
In addition to class dynamics,Fire Island tackles issues of race within the queer community, particularly highlighting the experiences ofAsian American characters. The film features a predominantlyPOC cast, reflecting the diverse realities of queer individuals. Characters likeBowen Yang's Howie represent the intersection of being queer andAsian-American, adding layers to the narrative and offering representation tounderrepresented communities within theLGBTQ+ umbrella.[14]
"Fire Island" serves as a poignant exploration ofqueer spaces, particularly focusing on the titular island as a haven for the LGBTQ+ community. The film celebrates Fire Island's significance as a historic queer hotspot, where individuals could socialize without fear of judgment orpersecution. Throughout the narrative, there is a deliberate absence of straight characters, allowingqueer culture to be glorified and celebrated authentically.[17] This specificity highlightsFire Island as a place where queer individuals can exist free from the influence ofheteronormativity, exploring the nuances of LGBTQ+ life without the need to cater tocis-het audiences.[17]
By centering on found family and friendship dynamics within the community, "Fire Island" offers a nuanced portrayal of the joys and complexities ofLGBTQ+ life. The movie also changes the expectations of the typical retelling ofPride and Prejudice by concentrating more on the friendship and family elements present in the original writing, moving it away from a more traditional rom-com. By focusing on the relationship betweenLizzie (Noah) and Jane (Howie) as well as their attachment to the family house they are losing, it sets the priorities of the movie to the core of the queer experience.[16] The movie emphasizes the necessity of portraying how joyful and raunchy queer experiences while also acknowledging the potential for the community to experience internal conflicts and divisions.[17]
The film was released June 3, 2022, onHulu in the United States,Star+ inLatin America, and later released on June 17Disney+ viaStar in other international territories.[9][18]
According toWhip Media's viewership tracking appTV Time,Fire Island was the eighth most anticipated film during the month of June 2022.[19] According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood,Fire Island was the sixth most streamed movie across all platforms during the week of June 11, 2022.[20]
Fire Island received positive reviews from critics upon release.[21][22][23][24] On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 94% of 112 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Brought to life by a tremendously talented cast, the breezily entertainingFire Island proves there are still fresh ways to update Austen."[25] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[26]
Alex Abad-Santos ofVox applaudedFire Island for being a high-profile comedy movie that dares to focus ongay men's sex lives without providing debauchery, and found the screenplay ambitious for its approach on social expectations, stereotypes, and racism. He also praised the film's take on friendship betweenLGBT people, while complimenting the chemistry between Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang's characters.[27] David Fear ofRolling Stone foundFire Island to be a love letter to the LGBT community andits culture, writing, "This romantic comedy has its share of those archetypes. It also has gay lead characters, gay love interests, gay heroes, gay villains, and gay people of color galore. That doesn't excuse some of the clunkier, more brochure-friendly scenarios that Fire Island throws at them. But it does give you the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing everyone to this picture-perfect spot and inviting them to the party in the Pines, had been the means of uniting them."[28]
Siddhant Adlakha ofIGN rated the movie 9/10 and wrote: "Indie director Andrew Ahn creates a mainstreamqueer classic with the romcomFire Island, his inventive modern adaptation ofPride and Prejudice. Following a group of gay friends on a wild vacation, it features some of the funniest and most tension-filled scenes in any movie this year. As complete as any piece of entertainment can be."[29] Jude Dry ofIndieWire gave the film an "A−" rating.[30] Dry found Booster's screenplay amusing and stated that Andrew Ahn's direction "brings a cinematic touch that elevates the comedy."[30]
Odie Henderson ofRogerEbert.com rated the movie three out of four stars and called it an entertaining and heartfelt romantic comedy film.[31] Henderson complimented Booster's screenplay for its humor and its approach on racial issues, and praised Ahn's approach to plot lines and characters conflicts.[31] Henderson also singled out cinematographer Felipe Vara de Rey, saying he manages to provide a nostalgic feeling about the island of the same name.[31] Jennifer Green ofCommon Sense Media rated the film three out of five stars and complimented the movie for its depiction of positive messages and role models, as well as its diverse characters of different origins and sexualities. Green statedFire Island manages to approach issues raised byheteronormativity and social expectations.[32]
Fire Island was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews, particularly for Yang's performance as Howie
It garnered positive reviews
"Fire Island" has received mostly positive reviews
