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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Entertainment
Scott Greenstone

'Fire Island' review: This gay rom-com offers a shallow dip into the ocean that is modern queer culture

Howie Yang Bowen Yang Charlie James Scully Joel Kim Booster Will Conrad Ricamora Quibi

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).

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