Fyre
2019
•
1h 37min
• Crime, Documentary, Music
In FYRE: THE GREATEAT PARTY THAT NEVER HAPPENED, it's 2016, and entrepreneur-on-the-rise Billy McFarland has secured the partnership of rap star Ja Rule in his efforts to create an app that will be the ultimate booking service: a one-stop site to schedule big stars for every occasion. To launch the app, McFarland envisions the biggest, most luxurious music festival of all time. To promote the Fyre Festival, he brings a dozen of the world's most famous models to the Bahamas to film a video of beauty, partying, and luxury that will go viral. He makes deals with celebrities to lend their names to "influence" his wealthy, would-be attendees. He promises luxury accommodations, first-tier entertainment, first-class food, and unending fun. Within 48 hours of the beginning of the social media hype, the event is 95% sold out -- with some packages topping $250,000. There's just one problem: It's not going to happen. What follows is a series of small calamities as a site is secured and plans are futilely attempted. Each daily disaster will ultimately culminate in the event itself, which is a failure of massive proportions. Throughout the film, director Chris Smith interviews the mostly sincere folks who tried to deliver what McFarland had promised. For each of them, including unpaid Bahamian workers, it was a financial fiasco and a commitment unfulfilled.