Fire Island review

This week we tan ourselves on a beach on the south shore while Noah and Howie – and their rag tag entourage – navigate Summer lovin’, a BJ room and the ultimate romantic gesture. All inspired heavily by Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (especially the BJ room).

Let’s dip in?

FIRE ISLAND (2022)

A pair of best friends set out to have a legendary week-long summer vacation with the help of cheap rosé and a group of eclectic friends.

Director: Andrew Ahn
Starring: Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho, Conrad Ricamora

Genre: Comedy, Romance ∙ IMDB user rating: 6.7
My score: 3.5/5 ∙ Runtime: 105 mins

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BFFs Noah (Booster) and Howie (Yang) are still as tight as ever, though with the latter having recently relocated for his career, there’s a certain frisson to this vacay. This point is only exacerbated when the pals descend upon “house mother” Erin (Cho), who’s forced to admit that her home – A.K.A their annual Fire Island crash pad – is being sold. Making this potentially the last weekend they’re ever all together again.

Noah is determined to be Howie’s wingman this weekend, even if that means putting his friend’s sexual needs above his own. Howie for the record isn’t super into the idea of putting himself out there but soon changes his tune when he meets Charlie in a club. Unfortunately for Noah this comes with an entourage, and Charlie’s own group are different to Noah’s.

While Howie wraps his head around a new love interest, Noah falls into instant dislike with Charlie’s friend, especially when he overhears Will (Ricamora) slagging him off. Hmmmmmm, I wonder what all that pent up pettiness could equate to?

Then Howie gets dumped, Noah meets a babe called Dex (who has a vague history with Will) and argues with his new nemesis – and things start to unravel. Will any of our new friends salvage a happy ending from the holiday wreckage?

THOUGHTS

I have the thought that this review is pretty flimsy and maybe that’s because beyond a well-loved narrative – and a hot AF will-they-won’t-they center – it isn’t rocket science.

I enjoyed myself and appreciated it’s heart though there are a lot of beautiful characters to keep up with, hence me not using many of their names. There’s a shocking oversight to mention too, Max, one of Noah’s crew is utterly underused, as is Margaret Cho, honestly.

I also don’t really care about Howie and Charlie, or the Dex is secretly bad side story: lots of time spent with uninteresting side characters could be focused on the ones I did like. Or on the you choose your own family messaging, which is beautiful.

But apart from that, this is a feel good treat that looks great and delivers zingy, satisfying dialogue. Isn’t it incredible what furious/horny chemistry can do for saucy banter?

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HOW DOES JILL THINK? WOULD SHE MOVE HOUSE TO GET AWAY FROM IT OR FEED IT POPPERS AND DIVE RIGHT IN? FIND OUT HERE.