That’s right, I’m reviewing two diverse modern-day Pride & Prejudice adaptations this week, and they’re both awesome. The trailer for Fire Island had me intrigued from the jump, but when I found out that this rom-com starring gay Asian American men was riffing on Austen, I couldn’t sit down to Hulu fast enough.
Noah and his four closest friends have just arrived at Fire Island for their annual getaway. Witty, confident Noah is determined help his sweet but insecure best friend Howie gain a little mojo through a choice hook-up. But things don’t quite go as planned when the guy who starts vibing with Howie is wholesome doctor Charlie, who’s staying at a fabulous beach house full of wealthy party boys who look at our crew like they got dragged in on someone’s shoe. Naturally, Noah is especially suspicious of Will, a taciturn lawyer who seems to look down his nose at them.
I won’t go deep into comparisons with Pride, but suffice to say that I love Fire Island for a lot of similar reasons. I adore the way the characters are drawn as gay incarnations of the original Austen characters. As our Lizzy, Noah’s intelligence, wit, and slight bossiness quickly endear him to me, even as they get him into trouble when he sizes up a situation too quickly. Meanwhile, Will is just peak Darcy, hitting that ideal balance between blunt and shy—special shoutout for the way, very early on, you see how he’s started smiling at Noah’s jokes despite himself. Meanwhile, Howie and Charlie’s syrupy connection is as cute as it is funny, with Noah busting his ass to help his friend score when Howie clearly wants to fall in love. The “younger sisters” are all terrific, the serious Debbie-Downer Max and the loud and flirty Keegan and Luke.
I love how well the story translates to a 21st-century Fire Island setting. It’s easy to see what plenty of scenes are emulating, even as some of them take a very different slant. Both love stories are done so well, every “event” has all the passive-aggression, uncertainty, and peril of the Netherfield ball, and the film’s version of the Wickham storyline (his name is Dex in this version) hits the right notes.
In addition to being a banging Pride and Prejudice reimagining (albeit a much more explicit one,) I also really like what the film brings to the table that’s uniquely its own. Just the fact that we’re dealing with a found family instead of a literal one speaks deeply to the LGBTQ experience, and even as the romances are the main focus of the story, the movie never loses sight of the friendships. While the five friends are most definitely in a lower socioeconomic bracket than Will and Charlie’s crowd, Noah’s narration also highlights the other types of “currency” they’re lacking on Fire Island. They’re mostly men of color, mostly more feminine, and have an array of body types, all of which mark them out as less “desirable” to the wealthy/white/masculine/toned men they’re interacting with. Noah and Howie are in some ways tied by their shared knowledge of what it’s like to be a gay Asian American man, but their experiences aren’t identical, as Howie makes very clear to Noah in a critical scene. And it’s only addressed briefly, but I find it really interesting that Will is the one person of color in Charlie’s group, a mixed Asian American man.
Joel Kim Booster wrote the screenplay and stars as Noah, and he’s pretty delightful. He has a light about him that’s infectious, but he’s also not afraid to let Noah be unreasonable and stubborn at times. Conrad Ricamora is so good as Will. I’m discovering that I can’t rank Darcys—like Doctors, I can only tier them, and Ricamora is absolutely a Colin Firth-level Darcy. SNL’s Bowen Yang is equal parts funny and sympathetic as Howie, and James Scully makes for a charmingly dorky Charlie. Every member of the cast does a fantastic job, by turns hilarious, outrageous, and lovable.
If Booster wants to write a sequel, I’m so there. Alternatively, if he wants to do a series of queer BIPOC Jane Austen adaptations, I would eat that up too.
Warnings
Sexual content, language (including “reclaimed” slurs,) drinking/drug use, and thematic elements.
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