When people proclaim that the mid-budget comedy does exist, it just lives on streaming now, it’s hard to argue with such a statement. Sure, I can agree. However that doesn’t answer and will never answer the question of where the high-quality mid-budget comedy went. Now as a fan of Bowen Yang’s work on SNL, and as a long-time ‘reader’ of his podcast Las Culturista’s with his co-host Matt Rogers, who both appear in this film, this film had been on my radar for awhile, and although I can’t say it blew me away, or is one I will rush back to watching again, I found myself satisfied and my time past on my flight home.
It’s a very solid pitch from the off, Pride and Prejudice but with all gay men set on the famed vacation hot-spot and escape locale. This pitch comes to us in a very solid script by Joel Kim Booster, who also stars in the film as Noah, our Lizzy. Now Pride and Prejudice is not a text I am completely knowledgeable off, and much of my knowledge (well, no, all of it) comes from film and TV adaptations. Booster’s best quality with the script however is that for as much as the film does plug and play the characters of the original work into these new roles, it never feels gimmicky, un-real or forced ever. The script’s plot despite being naturally over 100 years old, does manage to feel fresh and natural. What I’m trying to say I guess is that for as much as it’s a quick pitch, Fire Island is a lot more than just ‘gay Pride and Prejudice’. Booster as a figure in this film undoubtedly has his hands in a lot of facets of different it, but his factor of involvement is especially when it comes to the script. The script if funny, solid and fills itself with great and diverse characters that all have nice arcs and progressions. The humour is there, I’d say, 80% of the time, when it doesn’t land it’s usually a throwaway line or reference that doesn’t quite land. If anything the film isn’t funny enough, cause when it is funny, it really is at its best and so one wants Booster to return to that mould. However the film by design stretches itself and envelops drama and romance, naturally of course, into its package and does so for the most successfully. The biggest problem with the film, and it’s script, is just a matter of pacing. The film is 1hr 45mins and feels it. It doesn’t feel extortionately longer, but it doesn’t feel like a quick fun summer rom-com, it does feel somewhat needlessly like a dramedy. I say needlessly, because the comedy is great, and is the film’s best attribute by far. A focus more on that element would have helped the film a lot I feel.
The film’s biggest advantage is its stellar cast. Booster himself stars as our lead and is again, solid, but not overly special. His entire demeanour is that of the dry cutting person above it all, and he does this very well, but as a lead character doesn’t have the depth or variety to sustain for the full run time in my opinion. However as a romantic partner with Conrad Ricamora, their complex chemistry evolves and gives the film a touching and truthful romance at its core. However this lead romance is by far not my favourite, that has to go to Bowen Yang and James Scully, who both are terrific in their roles and their romance is more developed, funnier to watch, more touching to watch too. It’s not where the focus is of course, but it is the bit that works best. However the undoubted strongest element is our supporting players; Margaret Cho is hilarious, motherly and effecting. Matt Rogers is again hilarious, developed and a star. Tomas Matos and Torian Miller, along with Zane Phillips and so many others too fill the screen with great quality. This is where the film thrives, with these players. Overall though the film is just not in the hands of a very compelling director, with Andrew Ahn, his work in the emotional scenes is great and the comedy for the most does land, but overall the film is not visually that interesting and when it comes to pacing, a tighter directorial vision would have sincerely helped a lot.
A funny, touching and fresh 7/10 that has a cast and enough comedy and heart to pull through a script and film that is undoubtedly a little too long, and does have a few flourishes here and there that don’t really do the film any favours. However Matt and Bowen are stars, with a capital S, and with them and others I found most of my entertainment with the supporting cast. It’s not to say that the chief romance of Booster and Ricamora is not solid, it’s just not the thing I was blown away by.
P.S. Not only is Last Dance by Donna Summer a perfect calling back to all the history of the island and the community that has come before, but also one of the great songs... ever. I thought of the experience of walking out of a movie theatre with that song playing in the background. I then got sad, as my Ipad’s Disney Plus app recommended other comedies I may like – I didn’t like any of them.
- - Thomas Carruthers
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