*Noah/Will-related spoilers.*
I haven’t really written about this film since I first saw it, but I still love it. Not only is it a great, entertaining movie on its own, it’s also such a fantastic Pride and Prejudice reimagining, nowhere more so than in the relationship between its version of Lizzy and Darcy.
From the moment the five “sisters” get to Fire Island, Noah, our Lizzy, is on alert in more ways than one. He’s determined to find some action for his best friend Howie, so he’s looking out for potential hookup prospects, but he’s also keenly aware of the way that their group has less “currency” than so many others on the island. In a literal sense, they’re not rich, but they’re also mostly BIPOC, they have a range of body types, and some of them are more feminine than is considered desirable. Noah is determined not to let the exuberant Luke and Keegan embarrass them, not because he feels a need to impress the rich/white/toned/masculine guys around them, but because he’s determined not to give those jerks the satisfaction.
And to Noah, Will is the embodiment of those jerks. Our Darcy is both a lawyer (read: soul-sucking) and comes from old money (read: elitist), he’s hot and chiseled (read: full of himself), and he looks like he wants to be anywhere but hanging out with Noah’s group (read: snobby.) He’s not white, but everyone else in his friend group is, and Noah frames him as the token Asian American of his social circle. When Howie starts making eyes at Will’s friend Charlie, Will is the one sullenly standing in the background, seemingly determined not to like anything. To add literal insult to injury, Noah hears him telling Charlie that Noah “isn’t hot enough to be that annoying.”
But this is Pride and Prejudice we’re talking about. Will’s stiff awkwardness derives mainly from him being a massive introvert who wasn’t built for wild social situations like this (and as with Original Recipe Darcy, he can definitely be headcanoned as autistic.) He and Noah both make some snap judgments about each other, but Will starts to reassess his much more quickly. I love how, in many early scenes, we can see that Will is clearly amused by Noah’s banter but trying to hold back his smile/laughter. He quickly morphs from grumpy and standoffish to polite but stilted, making an effort to get to know this guy who’s already decided they hate each other.
I just love how the film portrays these two slowly figuring each other out. Noah is smart, witty, and can use bitchiness/sarcasm as a shield to protect himself and his friends from anyone he thinks might be a threat to them. By turns, Will is shy, cautious, and bad with first impressions, but he’s able to unwind a little as people get to know him. Both care a lot about their close friends, and both can let their pride get in the way of a good thing if they’re not careful. Compared to the blatant puppy love between Howie and Charlie, both tend to be cautious where feelings are concerned.
One excellent scene between them comes when Charlie visits Howie with Will in tow, and Will comes across Noah reading Alice Munro by the pool. Things immediately get off on the wrong foot, with Noah taking Will’s expression of surprise as a dig on his intellect, and they don’t get much better when Will disagrees over Noah’s interpretation of his favorite Munro story. Noah wonders why they’re even arguing about this, but Will says, “I didn’t think we were arguing.” And Noah, with just the right amount of archness, says, “So let me win,” which Will does. The whole scene somewhat mirrors Lizzy and Darcy’s first dance, where she coaches him in conversing, and it’s just as crackling with chemistry.
I love how Fire Island is very much a 21st-century story set in an entirely different world than Pride and Prejudice, and Noah and Will’s dynamic together is specific to who they both are, but at the same time they’re so very recognizably Lizzy and Darcy. From the looks to the repartee to the hard-won nature of their romance, they just nail it in every single scene.
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