Netflix’s ‘Fyre’ Documentary Is an Extraordinary Look at an Epic Sh*tshow

Don’t plan on going on the internet this weekend if you haven’t already watched Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, which hits Netflix on Friday. It’s sure to garner just as much social media buzz (maybe even more!) as the festival it details in a roller coaster of a documentary, directed by Chris Smith (Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond).

The Fyre festival was scheduled to take place in the spring of 2017, created by true American schemer Billy McFarland, and rapper Ja Rule. The world’s hottest models (Emily Ratajkowski! Bella Hadid! Hailey Baldwin!) took part in a glamorous promo video of them lounging around a beach in the Bahamas, and once they, and influencers all over the world, started posting about this once-in-a-lifetime music festival, it became the talk of the internet’s cool kids — and of course, the wannabe cool kids. As McFarland states in the documentary, “We’re selling a pipe dream to your average loser,” but it turns out, that pipe dream was nothing more than a real life nightmare, delivering only headaches, inconveniences, and straight up unsafe environments for those that flew to the Bahamas, expecting a weekend of relaxing and racking up followers.

Fyre the documentary, however, achieves quite the opposite, succeeding in painting a picture of what this festival was supposed to be, and what it actually turned out to be, told by the people involved first-hand. It’s an unbelievable look at who McFarland is and how he was simply incapable of doing anything except digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole of problems. Those that were glued to their phones watching it all go down almost two years ago are sure to learn something new and realize just how dire this situation truly was. Those that have never heard of the Fyre festival will be fascinated at the intersection, and inevitable explosion, of tech, music, money, social media, celebrities, and crime.

Perhaps what the Fyre documentary does so well is taking an event, one that is so easy to laugh at (rich Instagram kids stuck on an island, LOL!) and finding the heart in what can only be described as a complete and utter shitshow. There are hundreds of people that worked on this event, and though there were many (maybe only) mistakes made along the way, there was an optimism and determination running through those involved to do their best and deliver on promises made. For sure there are moments to laugh at and accept the total ridiculous nature of this whole thing. But by the end you’ll be crying, along with the people who lost tons of money (and not the rich ones), and really, part of their soul along the way. You’ll also gasp as revelations are made here that you’ve certainly never heard in ANY documentary before, and your anxiety levels will rise as you witness the guests arriving for a festival that won’t go on. Somehow, a documentary about a totally shady dude and a bunch of naive Instagram influencers ends up being about human nature, if you can even believe it.

Smith does an excellent job here narrowing down an avalanche of face palms into a fascinating 97-minute documentary that presents a lot of unheard stories from those that lived through them. That there was an abundance of footage taken during the lead-up to this mess, combined with thorough and thoughtful interviews from attendees and employees including engineers, marketers, producers and event managers, highlights this unique clusterfuck in a really impressive way.

For those wondering HOW could this go so wrong, you’ll get the answers — and it’s not that the people behind this were stupid or malicious or lazy. In fact, in most cases they were just the opposite. What we learn about McFarland makes him feel destined to be the subject of a documentary and this one gives a pretty fair portrayal of, plain and simple, what a true criminal he turned out to be.

It may have started out as a potential luxury music festival, but it’s culminated in a rare documentary that succeeds in being humanizing and honest and shocking and scary and totally over the top, chronicling a train wreck you’ll have absolutely no intention of looking away from.

There’s going to be a lot here for the internet to love, as this potential event was specifically built up and taken down (by a picture of cheese, no less) on the internet in real time. Like the internet itself, and the reactions to this event, the documentary proves to be silly, sad, and savage in really profound ways. Let’s just say, you might think twice about buying any music festival tickets for a while. But you just might stay home and watch this doc again instead.

Where to stream Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened