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Lovebug Club: A Rom-Com Rewatch Podcast
Lovebug Club: A Rom-Com Rewatch Podcast
“Fire Island” Rewatch: Finding Love in Gay Paradise
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💌 To celebrate Pride Month we are watching the 2022 Hulu film Fire Island. In this modern day Pride and Prejudice, a group of best friends are on their yearly pilgrimage to Fire Island when they discover it will be their last. While trying to make the most of their last summer in gay paradise, they experience betrayal, friendship, and romance that brings them all closer together. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
🎥 This movie stars Joel Kim Booster (Noah), Bowen Yang (Howie), Matt Rodgers (Luke), Tomas Matos (Keegan), Torian Miller (Max), Margaret Cho (Erin), James Scully (Charlie), Conrad Ricamora (Will), Nick Adams (Cooper), and Zane Phillips (Dex). Written by Joel Kim Booster. Directed by Andrew Ahn.
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🎬 Watch the movie on Hulu
💿 Song pairing: Sometimes by Britney Spears
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Fire Island
Speaker 1I love bugs. I'm Sarah And I'm Hadley. To celebrate Pride Month, we are watching the 2022 Hula Film Fire Island. In this modern day, pride and Prejudice. a group of best friends are on their yearly pilgrimage to Fire Island when they discover it will be their last. While trying to make the most of their last summer in gay paradise, they experience betrayal, friendship and romance that brings them all closer together. I really liked this movie. I loved it.
Speaker 2It was so cheesy, but in a great way.
Speaker 1I liked it enough that I didn't realize there was a director's commentary cut, and I immediately went back and watched it afterwards.
Speaker 2I love that they call Fire Island gay Disney World.
Speaker 1It was written by Jolkin Booster. I discovered him on Instagram because I adore Bo and Yang and they are good friends. Kim Booster loved the mini series of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, which I also loved and was watching before I started watching this. I was like hey, and loved the 2005 movie, but first read the book Pride and Prejudice while he was on Fire Island and noticed the similarities between how classes and clicks work in the novel and how they work on Fire Island.
Speaker 2Wait, like Fire Island is a real place.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, Fire Island is a real place. It is. Yeah, It's a very historic place. Gay people went to. That was kind of a safe haven for them. It's off the coast of New York. The gay side of Fire Island is the pines and chariot grove. The cast is all LGBTQ, like the real life that actors are. The cast actually lived together on Fire Island during this filming and they said it felt like summer camp.
Speaker 2Oh, I just saw something about an adult summer camp and I'm actually like really interested in that. I feel like that'd be so fun.
Speaker 1That'd be so much fun. This was originally going to be a series on Quibi. They ordered it in March 2020, but then shut down in December 2020. So they made it into a movie instead.
Speaker 2I think it worked well as a movie. I don't know that it needed to be a whole series.
Speaker 1It also just recently won a GLAAD award for Outstanding Film for Streaming TV and it tied with Anything's Possible, which we've also watched, And the GLAAD awards honor films, television shows, video games, musicians and works of journalism that fairly, accurately and inclusively represent the LGBT community and issues relevant to the community. So we open on them singing the Searchlight music, which was really funny It was the director's idea from something that one of the editors mentioned. And then we get the opening scene where Noah's getting ready and has to kick the boyfriend material guy out of his house.
Speaker 2I like that. he said he was giving boyfriend energy, but I don't know why. this narration kind of bugged me, the voiceover that Noah kept doing.
Speaker 1Oh, I kind of liked it in some parts.
Speaker 2It was useful, for sure, to help further the story, but I don't know if all of it came from that specific reason.
Speaker 1They go to get on the boat. Noah Drulkem Booster is late. He takes a lift, a lift from Bushwick. They say in the movie it's $300, but in actuality it is actually like $200. That's still expensive. It's so expensive. They were like we just kind of pulled a number out, but when we looked it up it was actually close to that number. As we're meeting everyone, we get a little intro to who they all are and how they've met and how they came together. And in the script everyone had a flashback like we get with Noah and Howie at the restaurant. I kind of nerded it out because I love Pride and Prejudice. I watch it all the time, read the book many times And there's a lot in this movie that sticks very true to Pride and Prejudice. but all the characters are versions of the Pride and Prejudice characters, which I thought was fantastic.
Speaker 2Okay, who's who?
Speaker 1Noah is Elizabeth or Lizzie Bennett, will is Mr Darcy, howie's Jane Bennett, and Charlie is Mr Bingley. Luke, keegan and Max are the film's versions of Lizzie's sisters Lydia, kitty and Mary. Lydia and Kitty at Luke and Keegan are probably pretty similar, but Max is definitely the Mary like reading on the time Super practical. Aaron is the equivalent of the mother and Dex is Mr Wickham. Cooper is Mr Bingley's sister, caroline Bingley.
Speaker 2I definitely haven't seen Pride and Prejudice as much as you, but I think I remember generally the story. Plus, if I just replace everyone in the movie with the names you just said, it makes sense.
Speaker 1They arrive at the island with pure imagination playing as they approach. I really liked the soundtrack. Yeah, it was good. A lot of the songs on it are done by queer and Asian-American artists. They arrive and they're walking down this little boardwalk which is really cute, the little jungle boardwalk And Luke, who's Matt Rogers, is saying hi to everyone, which I thought was adorable. If you notice, bo and Yang is carrying his rolling bag. It's because his bag was too loud that he had to carry it instead of roll it, and then they just kind of like run with it throughout the movie. Later, when he's carrying it, they're like he didn't actually have to carry it at this point, but I think he made it a character choice by now.
Speaker 2I'm sure that would have been so loud on that boardwalk. Is that when someone says why would you say hi to someone you don't want to fuck? I think so. I love that line.
Speaker 1This movie's full of great one-liners and apparently a lot of them are ad-libbed.
Speaker 2I would also be concerned about ticks. Someone was talking about being concerned about ticks.
Speaker 1Yes, i would be too. I'm terrified of ticks. I think they're Same and Lyme disease.
Speaker 2Oh, that's funny. I just put together that they said they were worried about ticks at the beginning of the movie and then Charlie's boyfriend has Lyme disease. I wonder if he got it at Fire Island.
Speaker 1We meet Erin, who's Margaret Cho. Her character was originally written to be an older gay man and they had cast that person, but he had to drop out suddenly, never heard who it was. Margaret Cho's people had reached out because she wanted to do a cameo and they ended up casting her in this role.
Speaker 2I'm glad they did. I love her.
Speaker 1They talk about how Erin got all her money from finding glass in her salad at a large Italian restaurant.
Speaker 2That reminded me of Heartbreakers.
Fire Island Movie Commentary
Speaker 1One of the scenes that got cut originally. She was putting glass into her salad and I was like, oh, it's Heartbreakers. Also, i loved that she had all you could eat salad tattoo above her vagina after that.
Speaker 2I once got my hair cut by a woman at Great Clips and the lady talked for so long without cutting my hair that my hair completely dried after she had wet it down. She was telling me the story about how she got a tattoo of a little man peeking out of her vagina. I was so angry. I really don't want to know about this. Cut my hair, please.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh my gosh, learn how to cut and talk, yeah, okay, when we see Noah looking at that wall of photos, a lot of those pictures are actually of the actors on their own trips to Fire Island together.
Speaker 2Aw cute.
Speaker 1Some were made for the movie but I guess Bo and Yang and Joel can booster go to Fire Island together a lot.
Speaker 2Noah and Howie are smoking and drinking on the roof. Noah is trying to persuade Howie to get laid and they're talking about the monogamy industrial complex Love that.
Speaker 1I did too. Howie says he wants the romance stuff like in the rom-coms. The confessing things in the gazebo was my best friend's wedding reference.
Speaker 2I found that very relatable.
Speaker 1I love Bo and Yang. I absolutely adore him. I only really knew him as a comedic actor, but watching him in this I like fell even more in love with him. He's so good in this movie. I just love seeing that like soft dramatic acting. he does Thereby the pool talking and Noah's arm gets bumped and his phone flies in the pool.
Speaker 2When that happened, i was like aren't iPhones waterproof? But he talks about how he has an iPhone 6. I was like, ooh, those were not waterproof. No.
Speaker 1This phone. Falling in a pool on day one of the week at Fire Island is true story. For Joel Kim Booster Also, he doesn't know how to swim, but he did his own stunt and he said that he hates being wet. That is the worst sensational feeling for him. Luke says something along the lines if you don't have AppleCare, then it's really your fault, or something like that. And Noah says what part of me having an iPhone 6 Plus in 2022 makes you think I can afford AppleCare. And Erin says she was an early investor in Quibi, which is originally what this movie was going to be on, and then went defunct.
Speaker 2I thought that was hilarious, that's funny It's going to be there last year here, because I guess she has to sell the house And they go for tea, which is a party.
Speaker 1Yes, The discrete way for gay people back in the day to get together is what they tell us when they're getting ready. And Luke yells can I trade a crest white strip for a prep pill? I guess that line was improvised, but that's one of people's favorite lines. Yeah, I like that line. They're at tea. And this was Tomas Matto's first movie. He plays Keegan. Which one is Keegan?
Speaker 2The one in the crop top. Yeah, crop top tiny pants. He was never not in a crop top. I noticed all of his crop tops and I wanted most of them.
Speaker 1I know. When I went back and watched the director's commentary they pointed out what Matt Rogers and Tomas are doing in the background And I started looking at them more. It was like they are so funny. I just kind of want to go rewatch this movie and only keep my eye on them. The little dance that Howie does is based off of one that Bowen Yang does in real life.
Speaker 2I like that they're on Grindr while they're at tea, because I personally love dating apps, because I would never approach someone in public, because I want to know that they are also interested or open to meeting people, because I have ADHD and rejection sensitivity, so love the idea.
Speaker 1You want to be able to process rejection without being face to face, kind of deal. Yeah, exactly, they kind of make eyes at a different group of guys And this is a very Pride and Prejudice moment. The way that Charlie kind of waves Will stands there, all serious, it's very 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie. Everyone go watch that after they watch this because it's cool the way they contrast.
Speaker 2I recognized Charlie, but I could not figure out what he was from.
Speaker 1Charlie is played by James Scully.
Speaker 2He is in You on Netflix. He plays Forty loves brother. I could not figure it out. I'm usually so good at figuring out what I know people from, but he looks so different and this is such a different character.
Speaker 1Conrad Rickimora plays Will, who's the Darcy character He is Oliver and how to get away with murder. But he's also a stage actor and does like Broadway Off-Broadway. Charlie and his groups start to leave and I was like go after them And the little push that he does, that how he falls down the stairs. They were like Bo and Yang did his own stunts. So good for him. I thought it was very, very funny when they had their awkward talk about being on your knees. But then when Charlie gives him a glass of I think it was whiskey And it's like you can trust me, i'm a doctor And then Aaron screams because she's so happy.
Speaker 2Charlie was so awkward It was uncomfortable for me, like they're adorable together, but when how he fell in front of him and Charlie was like you must have very strong bones, yeah, it's like what are you saying? No game, yeah.
Speaker 1He was like a confused little puppy dog. They go to watch the sunset. Noah announces that the only lawyer he trusts is Christine Baransky. Who is that? She was in Mama Mia. She's one of Meryl Streep's friends. She's in The Good Wife.
Speaker 2Is she the one that's saying does your mother know?
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2She was also in The Grinch.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh, she's in The Good Fight now. That's like her show Noah insults lawyers, says the rest of them are evil, and Will is a lawyer, and they do the sunset countdown. But the sunset countdown, i guess, is based on something that Joel Kim Booster and Bo and Heng and everyone actually really do When they go to Fire Island. Joel Kim Booster said the rest of the dog absolutely hates them.
Speaker 2Uh yep, i hated that they were doing that. If I had been there, i would have been so annoyed.
Speaker 1Keegan says I'm proud of you, girl. You set that. What's improvised.
Speaker 2Someone says something about doxycycline as a prophylactic.
Speaker 1Noah says that he works at a clinic and he steals doxycycline, which we were going to get a clip of originally, but they didn't end up putting that in the movie.
Speaker 2What is the definition of prophylactic? It's just a preventative right. I did take it in Asia for preventing malaria.
Speaker 1Like intended to prevent disease.
Speaker 2Got it. What are they taking it as a prophylactic for?
Speaker 1It says it's for STI prevention.
Speaker 2Oh dang. Doxycycline is good for everything. Then It also cleared up my acne.
Speaker 1Oh, wow.
Speaker 2It also makes you really sensitive to the sun. I got a very bad sunburn while.
Speaker 1I was taking it. Okay. So if you're taking doxycycline, wear sunscreen. Yes, and that's their friendship couple name. I guess Noe Howie and Noah aren't talking and how he's like kind of down on himself. When Noah says you are a prize to be won, i was like oh, that was so sweet. Their friendship in this movie was so heartwarming to me. It felt so real with the way they support each other, with the way they fight. It felt like one of those long-term friendships and it made me happy A healthy, long-term friendship.
Speaker 1Yes, they show up to the house that Charlie and his friends are staying at and apparently this house would not be on Fire Island. Way too much concrete for Fire Island. The house was actually in Long Island and all the ocean scenes you see out the windows were all edited in. They talk about how they're too trashy to be at this party and they brought half a bottle of wine. and then they see the house and Noah chucks the bottle of wine off into the bushes. That was very funny.
Speaker 2I love this house, though It's so beautiful. They have an Eames chair inside, which is a very expensive chair.
Speaker 1This was a very nice house. The guys at the party are super rude, but I guess this confo about are you supposed to be here? It was based on a real one that Jolkin Booster has had on the island. I appreciate it in this moment hearing his inner monologue. So we got to know what the code was that was going around.
Speaker 2Yeah, i really appreciate the narration as a tool. I don't know, it just felt out of place. Maybe we don't get a lot of rom-coms that have voiceovers. True.
Speaker 1I wondered if it was more like because it's also based on a book and in the book there is a lot of that inner dialogue.
Speaker 2Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1When they're upstairs trying to figure out snacks and Luke and Keegan take the cheese out of the fridge, At first I was like what are you doing? And then I just thought it was hilarious how much cheese they had.
Speaker 2I love cheese, so I'd be right on board.
Speaker 1Me too. I guess they were told to act like raccoons in this house scene and I think they pulled that off pretty well. Yeah, howie and Charlie are talking on the edge of the pool how he's explaining an SNL sketch called Gaze in Space. This was in the script way before Bo and Yang was on SNL. When they first had the script, noah's name was Joel, howie's name was Bowen. But then people started to wonder if it was Bowen Yang from SNL once he got hired, so they changed the names in the script to Noah and Howie.
Speaker 2I like the names Noah and Howie. I think it fits our characters better.
Speaker 1I also got a kick out of that. They thought Lindsey Graham was in the parent trap. Lindsey Graham's a politician and all I could think of was Lindsey Graham in the parent trap. After that Ew.
Speaker 2I did not realize who Lindsey Graham was when they said that name, but I just Googled it and ew.
Speaker 1Yeah, he's a pretty gross one. I There's so many little jokes throughout this whole movie that I just think are hilarious.
Speaker 2Noah. over here is Charlie and Will talking upstairs and Will is such a douche He is.
Speaker 1This is like a exact pride and pride it is seen with the words changed. Oh, is it? Yeah, because there's a little bit of a different version, but in the 2005 one, if I remember correctly, it's like the Charlie character who's Bingley Charles Bingley in Pride and Prejudice is saying to the Darcy character hey, you haven't danced with anyone. Why don't you dance with Lizzie, who's Noah? And Darcy is like she's not pretty enough to tempt me, or something like that. So this is the modern version of it, i guess.
Speaker 2He's not hot enough to be that annoying.
Speaker 1I thought they captured like that rudeness and outrage really well, because every time I see that scene movie, miniseries, anything I'm like I got the same reaction watching this. So I was like, don't say that about people.
Speaker 2He's not even that annoying and he's pretty hot.
Speaker 1So yeah, Jolkin Booster is very attractive and Noah's character is pretty chill. It's not like he's Luke and Keegan.
Speaker 2The group leaves very messily, but Howie stays and doesn't come home that night.
Speaker 1And the next morning I forget who said it. Someone says you're more likely to get murdered in your own home, and then someone else says that's why I never host.
Speaker 2I loved that. I would like to know if that's a real statistic, because I feel like that's not true. There's no way I feel like based on just the statistic of how much time you spend in your home versus the outside world. I think it's so cute that Charlie stayed with Howie while he was sick and rubbed his back Me too.
Speaker 1The way Howie pops out of this bathtub made me laugh so hard.
Speaker 2Noah invites Charlie to dinner as a thank you, and he invites his housemates too.
Speaker 1Luckily, a lot of them don't show up.
Speaker 2His housemates are terrible They are. They go to the pantry to dent cans for a discount to use for the dinner.
Speaker 1When Erin sends them off, she says fly you fools. Which is the Lord of the Rings reference.
Speaker 2Oh, I thought it was from the Wizard of Oz.
Speaker 1Oh, I could see that.
Speaker 2Like when the wicked witch tells her monkey minion, guard things to fly off.
Speaker 1Oh, now, this one was Lord of the Rings, But now I'm wondering what she actually says. Yeah, because that sounds really familiar. They go to a pine's pantry, which is a real store on Fire Island. In July 2022, New York Times profiled the store's history and wrote that the pantry is a one-stop shop for fresh fish, baked goods and lube. The guy arguing about the cheez-its is John Rogers, who voices Linda Belcher and Bob's Burgers, The Denting the Cans thing. He actually did this in college and right after college to get discounts on his food.
Speaker 1I didn't know that actually worked. Dented cans are bad for some reason.
Speaker 2Noah meets Dex.
Speaker 1Our Mr Wickham character And he gets invited to dinner. Dex comments on Will's ice cream and Will just throws it into the bushes. Apparently, there's no reasoning behind it, that's just a choice he made.
Speaker 2Will wastes a lot of ice cream in this movie. I forgot about this time, but I remember the later one. He just keeps throwing his ice cream.
Speaker 1They go to the house for dinner. Will and Noah talk about the Alice Monroe book that Noah's reading.
Speaker 2Cooper reminds me of the guy from Broad City.
Speaker 1Which guy?
Speaker 2Paul W Downs. He plays Trey, the like Jim guy.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, I could definitely see that.
Speaker 2Their Wi-Fi password is Cherry Jones. Who is that?
Speaker 1Cherry Jones is an actress. I guess she's a lesbian in a relationship with Sophie Huber.
Speaker 2Will says they're not game people because they're adults. Will is the worst.
Speaker 1In the commentary they said there's like a big divide in the gay community that they're a part of. I guess about game likers and not game likers.
Speaker 2That's so strange.
Speaker 1Games are for everybody. Will Games are for all ages. They go play Heads Up and Will cannot get Marissa Tomei And I thought it was hilarious how Luke and Keegan were trying to get him to guess her.
Speaker 2Heads Up is such a fun game. They should have just done a different category with Will. They should have, i feel, like animals or something, since he obviously doesn't understand pop culture. Yeah, really.
Speaker 1Will is no fun. He's very reserved. Dex and Noah go to the kitchen to get drinks and they talk about Dex's relationship to Will And what their past is. We find out that Dex says he's an only fans and Will is against it. Sex work is work Exactly, But if you know Pride and Prejudice, you know he's up to no good. I guess Joel Kimbooster told Zane Phillips, who plays Dex, that he would be a vampire on a vampire CW show one day. And he did end up being on a CW vampire show, but he was not a vampire. He was in Legacies and he played Ben.
Speaker 2I was going to say was he in Vampire Diaries?
Speaker 1I wrote it down because I was like, maybe Sarah knows this.
Speaker 2Legacies is the spinoff from Vampire Diaries.
Speaker 1Okay then, yes, he's in that world. They have dinner and Aaron tells a story about a woman having crabs And I guess that is a real Margaret Cho story. Real life happened to her And then came up in the commentary that I thought you would appreciate. Apparently, there are a lot of Pisces in the cast. Oh yeah, joel Kimbooster, matt Rogers, tamas Matos and the director, andrew On, are all Pisces So sensitive. And the commentary, joel Kimbooster, when he kind of starts being upset about it being their last summer, he's like I really moved quickly to that emotion. He's like it's Pisces energy.
Speaker 2Definitely. While they're at dinner, someone says find a family that can fill in the gaps about chosen family. I liked that. I did too.
Speaker 1I thought this was a great picture of a chosen family. I just loved all their friendships.
Speaker 2You too. They're going to an underwear party tonight. Howie says way harsh Ty He does.
Speaker 1This is one of two clueless references throughout the movie.
Speaker 2Oh, really, i only got that one. What was the other one?
Speaker 1They have a Rolling with the Homies reference. Later I looked at it and it's like is that Rolling with the Homies? I was like nah. And then I watched the commentary and he's like Rolling with the Homies. I was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2Oh, I just started going to this horror movie night every week and we watched the movie May. The main guy in that is the guy from Clueless.
Speaker 1Oh, the guy who plays Elton.
Speaker 2Yes, oh, he gets killed. Spoiler alert. Of course he does.
Speaker 1Oh, and Anna Ferris isn't it? Yeah, she's gay. I love her in the movie Something that people bring up all the time that Joel Kim Booster and everyone is like whatever The underwear party actually takes place on Friday night, not Saturday They were like you know what? We're doing it on Friday because underwear parties are a real thing too. All the events they go to are real things that happen on Fire Island.
Speaker 2I think I would go to an underwear party, but I did watch the show The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO, i think, or Max.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, that's so stupid.
Speaker 2Such a stupid rebrand. No one's going to call it that.
Speaker 1No, and like the title of the app, instead of just being Max, it's like Max, formerly HBO mainstream. this, this I'm like. you can't have to explain your new name, that's so dumb.
Speaker 2Okay, so Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO. In that series they go to a naked party Oh my gosh Where you literally undress at the door before walking in. I don't think I could do that. I don't think I could do that either. I mean, maybe I wouldn't say it definitely wouldn't happen, but I'd have to be drunk for sure.
Speaker 1Yeah, My friend told me she went to a Korean spa in LA and you're totally naked for that. And she went with a friend and I was like I don't know if I'd feel comfortable being naked in front of people like that. I know.
Speaker 2Honestly, I'd rather be naked in front of people I don't know.
Speaker 1Yeah, say it might be like whatever I don't know, It's probably weird.
Speaker 2for the first 10 seconds a minute maybe, but then I'm sure you get used to it.
Speaker 1I don't know. All my friends besides you and two other friends are really short too.
Speaker 2So they'd be looking right at your boobs.
Speaker 1They'd be like making eye contact and it'd be a little uncomfortable. When they shot this party, there were only actually about 30 people in the room, but they made it look like it was packed.
Speaker 2They say that having Adderall and an edible is equivalent to Molly. I'm so curious if that's true.
Speaker 1I guess this is something that Joel Kimbooster did back in the day in college and he called it Hillbilly Molly.
Speaker 1So, this is another real life Joel Kimbooster experience. I loved their chats about figuring out their drugs for the party and everything too. At the party, Howie goes to find Charlie and Will is with Noah and they dance together. But then Cooper comes up and pulls Noah away from Will and originally they were going to go walk around the pool which is like a direct reference to Pride and Prejudice where they're like let's take a turn around the room and walk and talk kind of thing, But they go to the bathroom instead, and I like that. they go to the bathroom instead.
Speaker 1He claims his territory Also the extra being Asian next to Cooper when he says the thing about it. It's not because he's Asian. That was not planned. That just happened to work out that that extra was Asian and kind of gave him a side eye look.
Speaker 2Dex interrupts and pulls Noah to dance. Luke is determined to steal Dex. Yes, and then Dex pulls Noah to a back room where everyone is having sex. I guess that's the thing at the underwear party. It seems to be a thing at all their parties, because it happens again later.
Speaker 1Oh, that's true, it does.
Speaker 2There's just a sex room at every party.
Speaker 1They had a lot of intimacy coordinators. Will comes into the room and Noah sees Will and stops everything that he's doing with Dex And they see Charlie dancing with his ex that apparently Cooper flew out this morning And Noah goes to find Howie. But Max took some drugs and I love his little moment when he looks in the mirror and he's like who's that? Is that me? Ah, i'm gorgeous. All the drugs have kicked in for everyone and it's just one of those semi sober person trying to gather all of the intoxicated people moments And then they all leave. They all got on the ferry without him.
Speaker 1I felt so bad for Noah, Me too And then it rains. I was like oh, noah.
Speaker 2I thought Noah and Will were going to make out in the rain, but instead they psychoanalyze each other. This is also where I started to wonder if Will was autistic. Oh, interesting, i feel like it's a possibility.
Speaker 1I guess I just thought he was like quiet. Will tries to kiss him, noah moves away and rejects that. But then Dex finds Noah and they kiss Howie and Noah get into a big fight because Howie's about to go off with a guy that hit on Noah at the bar, the tea dance. He's like super into Asian people.
Speaker 2Yeah, he's icky.
Speaker 1I guess that guy actually has anime tattoos The guy who plays him And you can kind of see them in this shot. But they get in a big fight and it was sad, yeah. And then Noah sad and falls asleep on the pool chair. His friends come and wake him up the next morning. They say Howie's not back and Luke's missing. Keegan's line apparently originally was that if Luke was missing they would make a podcast about it. But when he did it at the table read he said that they were working on a podcast together and they liked that more than they kept it in.
Speaker 2I mean, yeah, I'd be concerned if you went missing. Yeah, absolutely Not because of the podcast.
Speaker 1No, yeah, i'd be like where's my person? Yeah, Will wrote him a letter which is very prior and prejudice. It's so dramatic It is. It's in every iteration of pride and prejudice. But originally it was going to be a Facebook message that he read on his computer but they just kind of went with the letter.
Speaker 2I feel like Will would send the letter.
Speaker 1Oh, absolutely. Charlie shows up to talk to Howie and as they're talking, aaron says that Howie needs a friend, not fixing, which I think is a good way to think about it. I'm kind of a fixer, so I sometimes have to be like, okay, they don't want help solving the problem, they just need someone to listen to the problem. Charlie's ex has Lyme disease and Charlie wants to be there for him. Bo and Yang falling into the pool was his least favorite shot to shoot. Oh that was hilarious. It was fantastic.
Speaker 2I think it's important to say that just because someone gets sick, you don't have to stay in a relationship with them.
Speaker 1Absolutely. I had an ex that every time I wanted to go out with my friends he had some health problem act up and finally I was like I can't deal with this.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1You don't have to be in a relationship with someone just because they're sick. If you like them, you can stay friends with them and support them, and if you don't, don't.
Speaker 2Will runs from Noah on the boardwalk and throws his ice cream out.
Speaker 1Is it going to be really happy raccoons on that island?
Speaker 2Yeah, Will runs away to a drag show.
Speaker 1Peppermint is the person performing.
Speaker 2And Noah pushes Will to do a dance off, which is so hilarious. I love how awkward Will is, but he actually has some moves. I don't know what I would do if I was up on stage doing a dance off. I was impressed that he actually knew some dance moves.
Speaker 1I know I would freak out. I guess Conrad Rickamora actually is a really good dancer And in the commentary they pointed out like yeah, he's doing weird moves, but if you look he's on beat as he does. I don't know what I would do. I would probably like deer and headlights and kind of panic for a few minutes And then, you know, let the fear take over, black out a little bit and move.
Speaker 2Now on? Will our friends now and go to the beach to read? This is some neurodivergent stuff like parallel play is a love language.
Speaker 1I love it. This was the only sunny day, by the way, that they shot on the beach. All the rest of the beach scenes It was raining. This is so cute. It is very cute. The script had just said that they go to the beach and read and the director turned it into this whole adorable montage. I mean, he's so happy How he does karaoke To Sometimes by Britney Spears Great song. Bo and Yang picked this song. They asked him what love song he'd be comfortable singing And this was at the top of his list and they thought it'd be really hard to get, but it was actually apparently one of the easier songs to get for this movie Nice. These little musical rom-com moments are some of Joel Kim Booster's favorites And he said he felt like he couldn't write a rom-com and not include it. Cute.
Speaker 2Dex made a sex tape with Luke without his consent.
Speaker 1Oh, poor Luke. Joel Kim Booster wanted to bring up the issue of enthusiastic consent because he said it's an issue and he knows people this has happened to, and happened to on Fire Island That weren't in the right frame of mind when it happened. So consent is real and enthusiastic consent is where you should be at Sober enthusiastic consent, and you should not film anyone having sex without their consent. Yes, and if they are under the influence of anything, they cannot consent.
Speaker 2I love that Will and Noah team up to go kill Dex, though.
Speaker 1I know when Will's like I'm going to kill him and Noah's like that's what I was going to do.
Speaker 2Will hits him with some legal jargon about revenge porn and sex offender registry to get him to delete the video, And later he says that he made some of it up. but I'm pretty sure it does count as revenge porn.
Speaker 1I think so too. I think that was their legally blonde callback. It sounded like with that he made some of it up, kind of like when Elle went to go. I'm looking on her name but I'm taking the dog scene.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, Paulette.
Speaker 1Apple wouldn't like Dex use an iPhone. Interesting. Don't think they wanted to be associated with this kind of scandal. Noah throws Dex's phone into the pool and Will says those are waterproof now.
Speaker 2I loved when he said that because I was like I said that earlier, Yeah.
Speaker 1I know I was so excited to get to this part because I was like that's what Sarah said.
Speaker 2And Will doesn't know legally blonde. Excuse me, what lawyer doesn't know legally blonde?
Speaker 1I know, so you know how they have like really great chemistry. in the scene where Will and Noah are walking on the beach, this was one of the first scenes they ever shot together. It was like they didn't know each other.
Speaker 2They do have a lot of chemistry in this scene. Will says he works for a nonprofit defending tenants rights and says it's not sexy. I was like Will, please, that's the most sexy.
Speaker 1God Saving people.
Speaker 2And Howie decides to leave so he doesn't have to see Charlie and Reese. I really like this speech he gives that he needs to feel his feelings. He says I want to be vulnerable even if it hurts.
Speaker 1I love this talk and I love that Howie says that Noah's rules don't work for him and he doesn't think they're working for Noah either One of my favorite moments of the film. Howie says promise me you won't tell Charlie. Our next line is Noah yelling Charlie. I love that The monologue he gives to Charlie was all improvised. Oh my gosh. He had like points to hit, but he hated the script which he wrote.
Speaker 2I was going to say Did he offend someone by saying that?
Speaker 1I don't think he did. It sounded like the script supervisor kind of went on a wild ride during this shoot. but he ad-libbed all that and it was wonderful. But then Charlie struggling to figure out what to do as a person. He says it's kind of a bad time. And then Cooper and Reese show up and they're super mean about Howie. Howie gets on the ferry and he's not rolling the suitcase again.
Speaker 2Charlie and Will show up too late to stop the ferry, but they get a water taxi to the mainland Because Noah says he has to do something big and stupid and then Charlie says I love you.
Speaker 1And then Noah says too big, dial it back. That was great. And then Howie's like never listen to.
Speaker 2Noah, they kiss and everyone cheers.
Speaker 1Another cover of Sometimes Plays. They DM'd Moona to ask them to do this cover and it came in the day before they had to finish the movie, so they were not sure if it was going to make it. Also, the angry lesbian that pops out of the boat is Robin Bird, who I guess is a New York gay icon. I looked her up and she's a former porn star and they walked past her on the beach and just ran into her on the beach in Fire Island and asked her to be in the movie and she's like sure That's funny. Originally the big rom-com moment was going to be that Charlie showed up on time and Charlie ran alongside the boat and Howie was yelling from the top deck of the boat and then they ended up both jumping in the water and that was going to be like the big rom-com moment. But the bay there had 10 times the safe amount of E Coli, so they had to rewrite this a week and a half before they started shooting.
Speaker 2Oh dang. I would have liked to see the original ending. I know, i thought it was such a sweet original ending, Because when they're like I've got to do something big and he just gets a water taxi, I'm like this isn't big.
Speaker 1It's not really that big, but at least he went after him. They have the drinks at sunset, which was actually shot at 5.30, 6.00 am. They have the clueless rolling with the homies reference. Someone's trying to teach Charlie the hand motion.
Speaker 2And the voiceover Noah says it's never been about the house. I was like, oh my God.
Speaker 1I know This felt very like 80s, 90s end of the movie, wrap up kind of thing.
Speaker 2That was so cheesy. This is too much.
Speaker 1It was never about the house.
Speaker 2It was about the firms you make along the way.
Speaker 1Noah and Will sit out on the dock and talk.
Speaker 2They bond over non-monogamy Yeah.
Speaker 1Very cute. A little background for this scene. First off, it was Joel Kimbooster's favorite scene to write, but as he was writing this, he was falling in love in real life And so he had never been in a relationship before when he started writing the movie. And then, when he started dating his person, they started falling in love and he had to go back and rewrite certain parts, and this was one scene he went back and rewrote.
Speaker 2Aw, that's so cute. I loved this scene. I did too.
Speaker 1And they dance together.
Speaker 2Like the old couple that they see And then they kiss Very sweet.
Speaker 1I liked their love story And I liked that they're not changing for each other for the monogamy thing. Very happy about that, i do feel like so often people are like oh, i can change them And it's like no, just know what. You're okay being in a relationship with.
Speaker 2Meet people where they're at Don't date for potential Date. Exactly who is standing in front of you?
Speaker 1Never expect to be able to change a person, and I heard something today. I keep seeing these videos where someone interviews random couples on the streets of New York And this woman talked about marriage and how it's just really a bunch of marriages, because you're with someone for so long that there's so many different people. Right, and these were like older people who'd been together since high school, and it's like that's so true You're at different points in your life all the time And you just kind of have to figure out where you are then.
Speaker 2If you get married expecting someone to stay the exact same their whole life, you're going to be in for a rude awakening.
Speaker 1I loved this movie so much. I'm so glad I did it Same.
Speaker 2I loved the ending. Me too. I love that we get a cute non monogamous couple.
Speaker 1Me too. It's about time. I love everyone in this movie clearly in bias, because I love Pride and Prejudice, so I love that part of it too. I just this movie makes me so happy. Do you want to do what we're watching? I'm trying to watch as much of the stuff on Netflix that I want to watch, because I do use my mom's Netflix and I know at some point I will be kicked out because Netflix is Being a butt.
Speaker 2Yup, Absolutely Okay. What are you watching on Netflix?
Speaker 1Well, i finished Dead, to Me, which is fantastic.
Speaker 2It's so good.
Speaker 1It's so good. And then I watched Exo Kitty, which is the series with the person who plays Kitty in, to All the Boys I've Loved Before. Very fun, very lighthearted. I watched it all in one night, if you like, to All the Boys I Love Before, kind of vibe, highly recommend. I'm watching RuPaul's Drag Race. All Stars Bon Yank and Matt Rogers, were just on an episode.
Speaker 2I was like, oh hey, this is appropriate Speaking of RuPaul I just saw. But I'm a Cheerleader at Armor Theater. I think I love that movie. I'm so glad we did that last year.
Speaker 1Me too. That was such a good movie, and Natasha Leone hadn't really been on my radar so much, but now I see her everywhere She's in, so many things.
Speaker 2I haven't been watching any shows, but I have been watching a lot of horror movies lately And we watched Ex at Horror Movie Night the other week. It has Jenna Ortega, mia Gauth, which is actually a sequel to another movie called Pearl, and so I watched Pearl and it is so good. Oh my gosh. If you like the screen movies, you'd probably like Pearl. I don't know, scream is campy and I feel like Pearl and Ex are kind of campy but also like deep. But Mia Gauth is so good, i'm obsessed with her now.
Speaker 1I feel like I've seen her in something.
Speaker 2I was watching Pearl, There's one scene where she auditions for a dance and there's a quote that is a TikTok sound that I've heard a million times on TikTok but had no idea it was from this movie. I was like, oh, that's where this sound is from. She's like being pulled off stage and she's like, please, I'm a star.
Speaker 1Oh, that sounds fun. It looks like a fun movie, Oh it's crazy, literally. Yeah, Yeah. I feel like a lot of the slasher movies are pretty wild. Would it be a slasher movie? I know from the picture she's carrying a big axe and for me that makes me think of a slasher movie.
Speaker 2but Yeah, what's like the definition of a slasher movie. Just gore, murder, let's see.
Speaker 1Genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like a knife.
Speaker 2That's what a slasher is, i guess so.
Speaker 1Then yes, it usually involves a psychopathic killer stalking one or more victims.
Speaker 2Yep, yeah, okay, it qualifies.
Speaker 1Yep, it shows up as a slasher comedy.
Speaker 2It's so good. Oh, we're also at our horror movie night next week. I think we're watching Jennifer's body.
Speaker 1Oh, i loved Jennifer's body. I hadn't seen it before. Same, i didn't know what to expect. I had expectations based off the horrible marketing campaign and it was so good.
Speaker 2I'm obsessed with that movie.
Speaker 1I love that it's having kind of a comeback. It's like a cult classic now. Our song pairing for this movie is sometimes by Britney Spears. Comes up a lot in this movie. But we're going to send you to the original.
Speaker 2Oh, speaking of Britney Spears, what's going on? Have you seen all of the conspiracy theories?
Speaker 1I haven't seen all of them, but I do follow her on Instagram and I will say that, trying to read her Instagram posts, i feel like she's on a whole other level of human. I can't understand half of them.
Speaker 2I am on conspiracy theory TikTok for sure and have ended up on the Britney Spears one, and just everyone is speculating that she's either dead or in rehab and all the posts are not from her and they're all old. Some of them are old. That has been fact-checked.
Speaker 1I also find it really interesting that Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are friends Yeah, same. That was a really interesting discovery for me. I watched part of the Paris Hilton documentary mini-series that they did about her getting ready for her wedding. You know how Paris Hilton has that iconic breathy voice. Yes, she talked, i guess, and went her normal voices throughout it and I was like, whoa, yeah, her normal voice is so different.
Speaker 2You should listen to her audio book. She talks about her voice and not.
Speaker 1I guess it also makes me think of Britney Spears, because I guess Britney Spears has more of a lower voice than she sings with, but they wanted her to sing in a higher pitch voice, allegedly. I liked getting to know more about Paris Hilton because I love Paris Hilton.
Speaker 2I do too. Thanks for joining us for Fire Island. Make sure to leave a five star rating and follow us on Instagram at LovebugClubPod for more content and episode announcements. See you next time, love bugs.