It's important for there to be bad queer rom-coms, because there are plenty of bad straight rom-coms. Every quote-unquote "gay movie" does not have to be "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" or "Call Me By Your Name."
In this sense, "Fire Island," a new movie written by comedian Joel Kim Booster and starring Booster and "Saturday Night Live's" Bowen Yang, is important.
Based on a script originally written for the doomed TV streaming app Quibi, and a plot that feels more like a gimmick ("What if 'Pride and Prejudice,' but gay and modern-day?") than a passion project, "Fire Island" is a mess with a few bright spots and some mildly funny jokes about PrEP and "The Ethical Slut" (and yes, there is a Quibi joke).
It's noteworthy that this is a movie with four Asian American leads, which is also important representation. In the spirit of "Pride and Prejudice," written as a critique of marriage and class in Georgian England, it has thoughtful moments criticizing modern queer culture, its prejudices and its obsession with body image.
But in the end, it's unclear what the movie gained by conforming itself after a straight, white, English story. It's a self-conscious movie that rarely goes very deep despite a few heartwarming moments. And again, that's OK — there are plenty of surface-level straight romances!
Instead of Hertfordshire, this movie is set on the titular queer getaway in New York state. Instead of an estate-owning family, Noah (Booster) and Howie (Yang) are part of a chosen family of gay men who've been meeting up at the house of their chosen mother (Margaret Cho) every summer for years.
When they run into a group of extremely rich gays, Noah is immediately repulsed by their snobbiness — particularly the attitude emanating from Will (Conrad Ricamora, "How to Get Away With Murder"). Nevertheless, he's determined to help Howie achieve his first-ever Fire Island hookup, so he zeros in on matchmaking with the only rich gay who doesn't look down at them — Charlie (James Scully, "You").
The Charlie plotline is particularly foregone and interminable, culminating in a cringey, stereotypical final scene that tries far too hard to pass off its self-awareness as originality.
I'm a huge Yang fan, but the man is not a dramatic actor and the script doesn't let him be as funny as he is on "SNL," though there is one incredibly vulnerable scene where he manages to communicate the crestfallen pain of being accepted by a community for your sexuality but sidelined for your race and the shape of your body.
The brightest spot here is Ricamora, who manages to go from uptight elitist to relatable cutie in one drag brunch scene that was so fresh, and unlike anything in "Pride and Prejudice," I wish the movie had dropped the Austen shtick and figured out how to channel a lot more of what was memorable.
So: If you want a quick diversion, take a trip to "Fire Island" — but don't go looking for something that will last.
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'FIRE ISLAND'
2 stars (out of 4)
MPAA rating: R (for strong sexual content, language throughout, drug use and some nudity)
Running time: 1:45
How to watch: On Hulu Friday
