"Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened", dir. Chris Smith

I finally got around to watching this, and I can safely say that I've never seen a documentary come across more like a horror film.  I can't ever remember covering my eyes at the sight of an *interview*.  Later, I went back and re-read some criticism after the film's release in January last year, and I was a bit surprised to see the horror film comparisons come up again and again. After hearing that they were forty five days out and hadn't found anyone to physically stage the concerts, I could do nothing but bury my head in my hands.  By the time they were a couple of weeks out and were still finalizing the location, I was close to a full-on Colonel Kurtz stunned breakdown.

It was not a "mere" case of gross incompetence, of energetic twenty-somethings that got in over their heads.  They thought it would all come together at the last minute, only to discover that organizing a festival isn't like cramming for a final exam the night before.  But they also had the audacity to think that their customers wouldn't know the the difference between what they'd promised and the haphazard shit show they attempted to present.  The artists hadn't arrived (or been paid), none of the local workers had received a dime, the housing wasn't ready, the food was an atrocity, their guest were effectively stranded, and they somehow, inexplicably allowed the festival to go on.

Somehow, Fyre managed to retain many well-intentioned, hard working people right up until the end.  In the face of all evidence that the festival was careening towards disaster, collective hysteria won out. 

Ja Rule comes off worse than anyone.  Far from the detached celeb who tweeted "IT WASN'T MY FAULT" when his feet were put to the fire (no pun intended), he was an enabler from the beginning and was actively involved in the cover-up/spin doctoring efforts in the aftermath.  His comments during the post-festival conference call ("I wouldn't call it fraud, I would call it ... false advertising") shows that he was as scummy as any of the other principals. 

But at the same time, you can't help but laugh at these entitled assholes getting what they deserved at the end.  Even while watching it all unfold in 2017, I happily took part in the chorus of ridicule just like many other people.