Over the course of an hour and 45 minutes, Booster delivers a painfully accurate account of gay taxonomy. “No fats, no femmes, no Asians,” warns Keegan, played by Matos, sarcastically repeating the racist disclaimer found on dating apps as they approach the island via ferry. There are broadsides against toxic gay culture and the racism, classism, and body-shaming that comes with it.
The BFF quintet is rounded out by Matt Rogers, Tomás Matos, and Torian Miller. That two Asian gay men star in a rom-com also directed by an Asian man is a feat in and of itself-though, of course, the movie stands as a solid piece of entertainment on its own merits. He projects this feeling by pressuring his best friend Howie, played by SNL’s Bowen Yang, into having as much sex as possible (or, at least, some sex). Joel Kim Booster, who also wrote the screenplay, plays Noah, a young man with glistening biceps. Yet no piece of art is without its blind spots-and Fire Island, a pleasant-enough film, seems unaware of how it promotes ideas about which gay bodies are acceptable even as it condemns those same harmful stereotypes in its own script.
