In Fire Island, Cho makes everything around her better by mostly playing herself - brassy, nurturing, covered in tats and feeling like home. Having Margaret Cho - 30 years into her comedy career, a true groundbreaker in both queer and Asian entertainment - bless the screen in this already historic queer Asian-led project is just a chef’s kiss. She’s a Legend.” And, yeah, that about sums it up. I mean what is there to say about Maragaret Cho? In the film, Noah’s ringtone is Wendy Williams saying “She’s an Icon. She invites her boys there once a summer, the catalyst for the entire film. The one with a little tattoo above her vagina that says “all-you-can-eat salad.” Five years ago, Erin ate a piece of glass left in her meal at a famous Italian chain, and she used her court winnings to buy property on Fire Island.
Bennet, for anyone following with Pride and Prejudice still ringing in their ears.
Really I am here to talk about Margaret Cho as Erin, the mama bear of this found family, “career brunch server, age unknown, lesbian scam queen.” She’s based on Mrs. I’m not the person you should read on that, so if you’re going to read only one piece about Fire Island, I’m begging you, it should be E. Noah and Howie in particular feel the brunt of that outcast (though I would’ve loved to see more from Torian Miller’s Max, who’s fat, Black, and femme, in this moment as well) and their respective coping with those burdens is visceral. It’s charming enough, and the chemistry of its nuanced friendship dynamics sell Fire Island when the script fails them, but what I mean when I say Booster wrote a smart take on a mindless set up is that I’ve never seen a film take on the relatively common and flagrantly cruel catchphrase from gay men’s dating apps - “No fats, no fems, no Asians” - so squarely. In a purposeful ripping of one of the most famous love stories about the Haves and Have Nots, rom-com chaos unfolds almost exactly how you’d expect. Noah, Howie, and their crew are… not these things. In a play on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Noah (Booster), who’s also Fire Island’s narrator, spends one week every summer with Howie (Yang) and their best friends-turned-family at the seminal - at this point, boarding on gay myth making - Fire Island, long ago claimed by white, rich, body built, gay men as thee vacation spot to see and be seen. I don’t mean to drag us someplace serious immediately, especially over what’s a remarkably fun and surprisingly smart (for being mindless in that ideal summer way) gay rom-com. Or rather, even more specifically the friendships between gay women and men of color. This isn’t about me and my questionable decisions in background noise movies. When I watched Fire Island last weekend, I texted him again and said “I feel so complicated! Let me know when you watch!” Ugh, then I watched it again? Then before I knew it I watched it a third time? I think I might have a problem. I called Booster’s co-star and SNL regular Bowen Yang “King Bowen” (I stand by it). He said writer/producer/star Joel Kim Booster was hot (and he is). We joked about our own gay summers, we cheered over a Peppermint cameo (she’s one of our favorite drag performers). When the trailer for Fire Island first dropped, the first person I texted was my best friend Elliott. The 200 Best Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Movies Of All Time.LGBTQ Television Guide: What To Watch Now.