Fyre Fraud (2019) User Reviews

Best to watch this after the Netflix doc, but they're both good

[cherold · 7/10 · 3 February 2019]

Two documentaries about the Fyre Festival debacle came out days apart, Netflix's Fyre and Hulu's Fyre Fraud, and each shines in different ways.

The Netflix documentary approach is a methodical chronology. It describes what happened as it happened and how people saw it at the time. It really puts you into the day-by-day experience.

Fyre Fraud takes a different approach. It actually sketches out the basics of the entire thing in the first 15 minutes, then builds upon the various components to create a whole.

The titles actually hint at the different approaches. Fyre describes the Fyre Festival as a slow-mo disaster, only at the end fully revealing the shadiness of Fyre's charismatic creator, Billy McFarland.

Fyre Fraud, on the other hand, immediately establishes Billy as a sleazy con man, and portrays Fyre as a series of shady transactions. Netflix portrays the festival as a disaster, Fyre Fraud as a crime.

Fyre Fraud spends a lot of time framing the Fyre Fraud hysteria within the current culture. It's the sort of pundit "hot take" that is easy to poke holes in, but it's sometimes persuasive. Fraud also has an interview with Billy, although the guy is to slippery to offer much satisfaction.

If you only wanted to watch one Fyre documentary, go for the Netflix one. But after you've seen it if you want more details and a different angle, Fyre Fraud is well worth your time.

Frustrating yet Very Entertaining

[genious-35413 · 8/10 · 22 January 2019]

One thing I found endlessly frustrating is that there is a sit-down interview with the Zuckerberg wannabe/Con Artist who gets to trot out his highly fabricated version of what happened but he is repeatedly asked direct questions which he never appears to answer - but it's hard to know because it's a quick cut edit and on to something else. If he doesn't answer 'You lost a box of keys to $2 Million worth of houses? Why didn't you tell that to the guests?' - I want to see him sit there and squirm for as long as he did in the interview. But overall, it's a fascinating spectacle to watch, as was the other Fyre documentary. I don't despise the type of people that are featured in this film: cell-phone zombies that begin every sentence with 'Literally..' and describe everything as 'Amazing'... but I do enjoy watching them actively make themselves a victim of their own narcissism.

The Culmination of Emptiness

[plpregent · 6/10 · 30 January 2019]

Interestingly, "Fyre Fraud" was released on Hulu a few days before the Netflix documentary on the same subject, the latter of which is the first one I watched.

I found it so compelling that I rushed to watch "Fyre Fraud", having read that both docs had plenty of interesting footage to offer, with this one including an actual interview with the con artist behind the scam, Billy McFarland.

Clips of the interview are inserted here and there, but to be perfectly honest, do not provide much insight or reveal anything shocking, besides providing somewhat satisfactory cringey moments where McFarland seems to be sweating bullets and is seen stuttering in embarrassment after being asked certain questions that he obviously won't/can't answer due to ongoing lawsuits. The tone is not overly confrontational, but they did not shy away from asking tricky questions.

While the Netflix piece had a well-organized, countdown type of structure that documented the lead-up to this disastrous event in great detail then depicted the event itself, both with plenty of on-site footage, "Fyre Fraud" uses a different approach, instead focusing on everything surrounding the event and the more philosophical questions that this literally empty shell raises: is this, to a greater extent, the result of a culture of emptiness? And while "Fyre Fraud" is certainly inferior as far as narrative structure is concerned, it digs deeper than the Netflix doc in its study of "influencers" and millennial culture. While they do not get that much screen time, there are two interviews with influencers who attended the event (no clue what their names are) who, after being candidly asked what an influencer is and how they would describe their "brand" (which is basically themselves and the "lifestyle" that they document, one heavily filtered picture at a time), both answered "positivity" after hesitating for a moment, struggling to find a meaning to something blatantly meaningless.

There are several other people being interviewed, only a minority of which are also interviewed in the Netflix doc. As such, it was interesting to get different perspectives and, in many aspects, both documentaries are very interesting in their own right and could very well have been merged into one lengthy piece. Anyhow, as I was not familiar with the lead-up to the event and how it all unfolded, I'm happy I got to watch both docs in that order, as "Fyre Fraud" really focuses on the fraudulent aspect of it rather than all the cringe-worthy logistic and administrative failures that led to the disaster. My suggestion would be to watch both docs, starting with Netflix's. That way, with "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened", you'll get a really satisfactory depiction of the facts, including plenty of on-site footage prior to the event and during the event, and then, with "Fyre Fraud", you'll get a better picture of the aftermath, as well as an interesting, more in-depth sociological analysis of the psychological and behavioral traits of a delusional generation obsessed with flashing pictures of a luxurious lifestyle that a serial con man was able to successfully exploit.

On its own, "Fyre Fraud" might feel a bit incomplete if you're looking for actual footage of this disaster. However, as a complement to "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened", it is highly satisfactory and completes the Netflix piece's deficiencies in terms of social commentary.

That being said, if you have to choose between the two, I would suggest "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened".

Well told, and depressing

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 16 December 2019]

"In the millennial era, scamming is the air we breathe." - Jia Tolentino, writer for the New Yorker

'Fyre Fraud' tells the story of a con man pretty well, and also puts it into the larger context of the current generation and social media. Between the cons, enablers, internet influencers, and the entitled, all of them reeking of incredible selfishness, it made me want to weep for humanity.

More a study of our society than it is of a fraudster

[LnineB · 6/10 · 17 January 2019]

Con Artist have been around forever but there are particular times when they thrive and benefit from a societal situation more. For example Con artist ran rampant during America's Great Depression era due to the heartbreaking need to survive at all cost by the public. Most people needed to have faith in something during that time and con artist were more than happy to provide that source in things like fake jobs, get rich quick schemes or even religion. What this documentary exposes is that we are in a new era that appears to be ripe for the same tactics used in previous times but on a larger scale. The big difference is the size and scope of the scam and more importantly the fact that we aren't in a Great Depression. As a matter of fact , these new scams are now in the form of politics, social status and popularity. And often times take advantage of the very wealthy. This particular scam only worked because of the uncanny need of its victims to want to be apart of something exclusive and to , in a way, execute their very own scam of false success through social media. What this documentary does a good job of showing is that the success of cons are as much about the people who fall for them as it is about the con artist. The main culprit in this film looks and acts like every single con artist through out time, he's confident to the point of arrogance, talks a mile a minute and never takes no for an answer. He's narcissistic and greedy but yet really doesn't hide those negative traits. As a matter of fact, like most frauds, the first con is to convince people that those negative traits are actually positives. On the surface, none of this scam should've worked. But like what his developer parents no doubt taught him, it's not about what an item is in the present , it's what it could be in the future. In many ways real estate developers have the same traits as con men because of that ability to sale what isn't there. They are masters at getting people and financial institutions to buy into a speculation. This main character spent a lifetime doing exactly this over and over again. And like most con men they fail, they fail big, but yet they find a way to convince their victims to not focus on their past failures but to focus on the awards of the future. Every single person who was involved with or attended this failure of a festival could've used the same social media to find out that its leader was a con artist. But yet they didn't. They decided to once again put their faith into the speculation. Ja Rule ,for example, who maintains the whole thing wasn't a scam , actually worked with the guy before ,executing a previous scam that was funded by yet another scam artist oil tycoon. How do you ignore all of this and decide to go into business once again with the same person? Well the same reason a bank decides to invest into a development when the developer has filed bankruptcy 3 times, by investing into the dream. Ja Rule , like everyone else desperately wanted to be a part of the dream. Whether it's greed or the need to be wanted, those desires override the logical because being logical is not "exciting". Mark my words, we will hear from the main character again and I guarantee the next con will be bigger than this one and once again it will be successful, because the victims will need for it to be.

The Netflix Documentary is better, but watch this, too.

[ejonconrad · 7/10 · 24 January 2019]

When it rains it pours. Both Netflix and Hulu decided to come out with documentaries about the Fyre Festival at almost exactly the same time.

The Netflix film is definitely a superior documentary, with broader coverage of the story, but this is worth watching for the interviews with McFarland himself, which Netflix doesn't have.

Unfortunately, it seems like in exchange for the interviews, they kind of soft pedal what a thoroughly loathsome human being McFarland is. Yes, the make it clear he lied to a lot of people, but you could still walk away from this thinking he's still a basically decent guy who just got in over his head. He's not. He's a pathological liar and a sociopath.

For example, they leave out the fact that he started a new ticket sales scam *while he was out on bail* for the Fyre fraud charges.

The biggest flaw in this documentary is they don't even mention the biggest victims of the scam; namely, all the Bahamians who worked round the clock to try to try to make this happen, and then didn't get paid.

Still, the main takeaway from both documentaries is just how easy it is to separate people from a *lot* of money if you're willing to lie with a straight face, and when i comes to that, there's really no substitute for letting McFarland tell the story in his own words.

if you are going to see one, "Fyre" on Netflix is better than this one on Hulu, both though are about as vapid as the material they are covering

[random-70778 · 18 January 2019]

It is some fairly deep irony when a "documentary" on a subject of exploitative people, using vapid, shallow influencers, to dupe rich kid victims who themselves may have deserved what they got, turns out to be itself exploitative, vapid and meaningless as well. Essentially the makers of "Fyre Fraud" engage in the same cheap marketing and lack of substance as the subject they are covering. We don't even learn why Ja Rule was not jailed

If you want to learn about this festival, the stages of fraud, and just how nasty everyone involved was, read one of the news articles, and skip this documentary which is so shallow and laughably emotional it could have been made by the fraudsters itself.

Fyre Fraud

[JoBloTheMovieCritic · 7/10 · 19 November 2020]

7/10 - interesting documentary reveals some truths about the much talked about Fyre Fest

Fyre Fraud vs Fyre

[TheTruthofItIs · 7/10 · 6 February 2019]

Since the two Fyre Festival investigative documentaries came out within days of each other I'm briefly reviewing both here. Fyre (Netflix) was a decent enough documentary of grand-fraudster Billy McFarland. It presented a fairly chronological accounting of events, ending with the legal consequences of the fraud. Fyre Fraud (Hulu) was less chrono, at least to begin with, and spent much more time describing Billy's childhood, college days, and the genesis of his fraudulent ways. In fact, I found Fyre Fraud to be more informative and entertaining. Fyre (Netflix) showed more of their social marketing photos and videos, but that wasn't as satisfying. Fyre Fraud also did a better job of describing the fraudsters' legal consequences, too, so my recommendation goes to Fyre Fraud (Hulu) if you only want to watch one of them.

Billy McFarland - what a piece of work

[bbewnylorac · 8/10 · 14 May 2019]

I'd be surprised if someone isn't writing a musical about Billy McFarland. Good looking, gregarious and everyone's good friend. He could sell ice to the eskimos, at a handsome profit. In this doco, he comes across as a very entitled, amoral, smooth operator who still hasn't grasped that he did anything wrong. His interviews don't really achieve much, other than confirming that he won't answer key questions about his role in the disastrous Fyre Festival in the Bahamas. When asked a difficult question, he just stares, dumbfounded, like he's wracked his brain but can't imagine what to say. The doco succeeds in showing how McFarland and his promoters mounted a dazzling social media campaign to promote the Fyre Festival that played consumers like a violin. The promoters used celebrities and influencers and strategically placed posts to start a tsunami of desire among the public to get tickets. The promo video alone was a ridiculous con - portraying a few scantily clad models frolicking in paradise with pigs, campfires and jet skis, and adding some stock concert footage. It had nothing to do with reality. The rapper Ja Rule doesn't quite succeed in wriggling out of his major role in the affair. He lent his name to the event, seems to have known that the whole thing was doomed but then later claimed he did nothing wrong. Watching the footage of ticket holders arriving in the Bahamas is at times comical - matching their expectation of a well run festival with luxurious facilities, versus sleeping in crummy tents with little food or water. However, let's not forget that as disasters go, this is a small scale one. This ain't an earthquake or war refugee camp. Many of the concertgoers are rich white kids who probably look back now and laugh. I am glad the filmmakers included interviews with island staff who actually worked hard at short notice to try and build the festival but who didn't get paid. One of the video people is asked whose fault the whole fiasco was. He says "everyone's". I don't know about that, but those who bought tickets - who believed the social media hype that was sold to them - may now have cause to be a little more skeptical in future when someone tries to sell them a pile of dung dressed up as gold.

The Law of Attraction in Action: Con Artist Attract Marks!

[mekjd · 7/10 · 11 February 2019]

Disjointed, lacking in attribution, and essentially providing a docudrama of plaintiffs' claims against the Fyre Festival organizer(s), this picture could have been a lot better, although it is an intriguing watch, packing it tidbit after tidbit of explosions of grandiose plans and promises followed by tsunamis of money flowing in and flowing out just as quickly, culminating in a disastrous 'tent city' fiasco,. Cliche or not, the movie is like watching a slow moving train wreck: you know what's coming but you can't look away, either.

The movie is not big on temporal sequencing or identifying the relationships between people, but that failure of exposition did not stand in the way of the auteur's perception that no documentary would be complete without a virtue signalling reference to the current administration, as if all these people were ripped off and on the right side of history, to boot, poor souls. But this has nothing to do with anything, for it is the millennials who have lived their lives behind screens of lifestyle envy who fall hook line and sinker for the scam. Their total disconnection from reality and inability to comprehend even the most basic economic truths (i.e., if you are hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt perhaps it is not wise to spend tens of thousands more for a music festival) pales, however, in comparison to the complete vacuity of the billionaire investors and venture capitalists who bought into the promise of a music festival, plans to be determined later. No one seems to have paused to perform the teeniest bit of due diligence, as if the notion of a music festival was so magical that nothing could go wrong and any price could be paid to secure a place in music festival history. Right! So the lion's share of the audience's task is to determine who is the greatest fool here.

All of the promoter's associates appear on screen as if they never really noticed anything was amiss with this fellow. Now, where have we heard this before? Bernie Madoff, is that you? But Bernie! They loved you when you got them 20% returns, and never bothered to check to see if they were real.

And that is the point. People buy dreams every day, hook, line and sinker, and this movie shows how easily people are lured into such things, and how much can be accomplished by one who can play the internet like a symphony. For not unrelated phenomenon, check out the HBO special about Brexit for Britain's entry into the world of political action online.

In all, this is a thought-provoking hour or so well spent, reminding one always to heed the admonition of Lord Byron to "read your Bible, and mind your purse."

Adds some additional context, but Netflix's is superior

[TwinkleLights · 5/10 · 25 January 2019]

I was very interested in the Fire festival fiasco when it broke in the spring of 2017. I watched the Netflix documentary first, and then Hulu's Verizon. Overall, I think the Netflix version has a more linear story progression and I like how it focused on the victim impact more so than the Hulu version. This Hulu doc also simply seems more amateur than the Netflix doc. I'm surprised no other reviews have mentioned it, but in this documentary when they want to relay informtaion from a court filing or statement, they have it read by one of those awful computer reading services which just sounds incredibly hokey and is frankly distracting. I've never seen that "artistic" choice in a film before. However, it you are very interested in all the details of this scandal, I would recommend both documentaries as they both contain distinct information. If you're trying to choose between them, then I would recommend the Netflix one over this.

I enjoyed both Fyre Festival documentaries

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 23 October 2021]

I think it's probably a little worse than the other Fyre Festival documentary, but it's been almost three years now since I watched it, so even if this hit similar beats (and wasn't quite as polished), revisiting this story still made for a very engaging watch.

Biggest problem is that this one is almost a little too fast paced, especially near the start. It's like, slow down, because this is an engaging story- you don't need to move fast to keep people's interests if your topic is as morbidly fascinating as this one. Thankfully it wraps up well by the end, and the shakiness when it comes to editing and pacing is only really noticeable in that first half hour or so.

Interesting, the one I wanted to slap the most

[boudica-of-inceni · 7/10 · 27 November 2019]

I thought this was interesting as they took a different approach to this one. Marc Weinstein, no relation to Fat Harvey, said in an interview that he did not participate in this one due to Billy being paid for it. BUT, I think this shows just how clueless this SOB is and how much of a functional psychopath and sociopath he really is. Billy and his blank stares into space. While I find violence distasteful, I did find myself wanting to slap the out of his "girlfriend" who I believe we all know was there to garner sympathy but I found her very annoying because she does not realize that the ONLY reason she was or is his girlfriend is because she is just arm candy to make him look as if he is actually a man and it makes her look like a complete fool. I really wanted to slap her when she said that everyone makes mistakes because this was not a mistake, he's a lower rent version of David Friedman aka Benioff. Total "boats and hoes" mentality. I hope in her everyday life she has menstrual cramps for her stupidity. Yea, definitely not the brightest and I think the dye from the bleach she uses has killed a lot of brain cells, sort of like Cabin in the Woods did.

If you have Hulu watch this documentary!!

[justin-fencsak · 7/10 · 16 March 2019]

When I got hulu for free as part of my spotify premium account, i checked this movie out on this service. It's quite well made and tells the story of what happens when a proposed music festival set on a tropical island didn't come to fruition, leaving lots of fans stranded on the island causing havoc and chaos before heading home safely. There have been attempts to bring it back but to no avail.

The trailer on this site has the words "Help US!" Ha hahahahaha ;D

[midnitepantera · 7/10 · 13 March 2022]

Sorry, but NOT sorry. A bunch of rich and lying influencers like Kendall Jenner, making $250,000 for 1 post for this thirst trap Fantasy Island NIghtmare for the Rich and SPOILT!! Ha hahahahaha

You know what, they Got what they deserve. There are children dying from lack of food, clean water, a roof over their heads, life saving medicines, and deadly mosquito viruses. But these Rich BRATS would rather shell out $4,000 to $50,000 for a 2 day concert on some island that was promoted to belong to Pablo Escobar, which turned out they were kicked off of and had to do it somewhere else, and screwed 100s of Real and Hardworking Islanders out of a pay check for suffering for weeks in the hot sun setting up this ridiculous Failure for a Scamming Thief. I feel sorry for the Islanders, but all the people that bought into this BRAT FEST, I will only play, on my Tiny, tiny violin "My Heart Bleeds for You!" NOT!!! Ha hahahahha Oh poor babies, they had to suffer a little bit for a few days. WHAAAAAA

Hey, I guess Karma kicked a few thousand rich and selfish Morons in the Rear for a change.

And the Idiot thieving, piece of Poo that set this up, well, he's gets out on bail and goes to live in a penthouse and use his email list to scam more money from all the same rich idiots. And then barely gets a slap on the hand. I hope the courts will seize his assets and at least pay all the poor Islander's who were used and abused by All these Rich, Selfish Idiots! ;D.

Solid Documentary about a Wild Situation

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 6 August 2023]

This was a documentary that I heard buzz about a couple years ago. I was intrigued about the things I heard so it was one that I wanted to come back to. Jaime and I lately have been getting into documentaries, especially Friday evenings when we want something to watch, but don't necessarily need our full attention.

What we get here are learning of the events of Fyre Festival. Behind those events, we learn the history of one of the guys behind it, Billy McFarland. He sat down to be interviewed here, which was interesting. I think that he does have charisma and I like his ambition. I don't think he's as smart as he thinks and he's a con man who will do what he can to get ahead.

Another aspect is that we are getting to hear the thoughts of reporters, editors, bloggers and even lawyers. It was shocking to both Jaime and I with how far this got. Having influencers and music festival attendees to show up to this remote island, with little planning and infrastructure is just wild to me. There's part of me that feels like people deserved this, but I can also understand that they were defrauded as well. I do feel bad.

Now I know there was another documentary that came out around the same time that was on Netflix. I've not seen that one and from what I've heard, I know one is more bias than the other. Not sure which is which. I do think that this does got into how villainous McFarland and his partner in setting this up, Ja Rule, are. There's also another guy who worked with McFarland who seems to be a ringleader. The amount of research and information supplied here is good. I thought this was a well-made documentary that was interesting to watch. I do want to see the other one now to compare personally.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.

Interesting, impactful, educational and humorous

[willians_franco · 8/10 · 2 August 2019]

I am a fan of documentaries and therefore enjoyed this one too. If you don't know, two documentaries were made about the Fyre Festival: this one ("Fyre Fraud" - 2019), directed by Jenner Furst; and another ("Fyre" - 2019), directed by Chris Smith. Both are good, but I confess I liked the second "Fyre" better. The reason is that in that story the story was much better narrated, besides having a greater mood of suspense at the beginning of the movie. In my opinion, if you decide to watch just one of them, opt for the Fyre documentary and watch this later. Fyre Fraud recounts the fraud committed by promoter Billy McFarland in 2017. It chronicles the modern trend of so-called digital influencers and how easy it is to pull money from consumers today, under vague promises spread by social media and empowered by these useless influencers. Billy McFarland, the main character in this documentary, is defined as a compulsive liar, one of those types of fraudulently used car salesmen. He has such a questionable personality and ambition to become a new Mark Zuckerberg. He was responsible for the Fyre Festival and it is about his actions and his personality that the narrative develops. I recommend the movie to everyone. There are some tragic-comic moments with hints of black humor. It's interesting, impactful, educational, and serves as a warning.

The Real Story of Fyre Ftival

[soulfx-1 · 6/10 · 9 January 2020]

So I gave this a 6 because it's extremely cheesy - relying on silly gimmicks in place of actual footage, such as trying to re-create the scenes with stock photos. It's completely cheesy and filling in commentary with 3rd party commentators (e.g., a psychologist who talks about con artists).

However, with that said - this should be a companion documentary to Netflix's Fyre Festival - which has more engaging footage, but hides the complicity of the company (Jerry Media) in lying to the public and defending influencers, because they have a financial benefit to protecting the celebrities they work with.

Definitely worth watching, because it provides even more backstory that the Netflix/Jerry Media version fails to provide - such as details on what happened with vendors and more closure on the after effects.

84/100

[julianchasesantiago · 8/10 · 29 April 2019]

Great documentary like Fyre festival but a little more bland

The documentary is a lot like the actual event -- shoddy.

[thesuthernman · 3/10 · 2 December 2019]

I think the same people who were behind the event made the documentary. What's with the cheesy computer generated narrator? The music choices--cheese. Shoddy research, shoddy visuals, shoddy interviews--just like the cheese sandwiches given to the gullible millennials who gave the jerk money. And what is the 3 second clip of Trump towards the end got to do with anything?

Best doc about fyre!

[saphira_dragon-80270 · 8/10 · 24 January 2019]

This is a great documentary! Very interesting and will keep you compelled. Check it out! I actually heard Billy McFarland is selling tickets to it, $1500!

Fyre Festival? More Like Fyre Mess-tival

[lizzymichelle · 8/10 · 24 April 2019]

When Hulu announced that they would be releasing a documentary on the "mess-tival" (messy festival) that was 2017's failed Fyre Fest, I could not have been more excited. An avid lover of music festivals and pop culture, I remembered how exciting the idea of the Fyre Fest was and all of the world's biggest social media stars posting ads promoting Fyre. This documentary did an excellent job of shedding light on the multitude of catastrophes that occurred, ultimately contributing to Fyre's inevitable failure. Being released just four days before Netflix's competing Fyre documentary (entitled Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened), there is an obvious desire to compare the two competing films. While I have not personally seen Netflix's documentary, I likely believe that Hulu's Fyre Fraud is the superior documentary as it has an obvious advantage over Netflix's: an exclusive and lengthy interview with Fyre's CEO, Billy McFarland. Hulu's interview with McFarland gives the film a distinct advantage and presents themselves as a more reliable narrator -- not bound by a specific agenda to either acquit or demonize the crimes, fraud, or lies that McFarland committed, but as a narrator that simply seeking the truth in a case filled with corruption, confusion, and criminal activity. Another success that the film has is its incorporation of the classic 1968 motown song by The Temptations, "Build Me Up Buttercup" in the documentary's final scene where the fate of Fyre's executive board is disclosed. While the song is loved for its upbeat and carefree nature, the way in which Fyre Fraud includes it is dripping in irony and dark humor. As the fate of these once privileged and wildly successful individuals rolls down the screen with statements like "Billy McFarland is now serving 6 years in federal prison for wire fraud" or "Fyre's main organizers and promoters are now the subject of at least 8 ongoing lawsuits" to the tune of "Build Me Up Buttercup", it is a powerful testament to the film's overarching theme that no matter how much you "build up" your success, your actions will eventually have consequences.

However, on a more critical note, I was less than enthused about Hulu's decision to neglect interviewing many of the individuals that were most obviously taken advantage of: the local impoverished Bahamian workers employed by Fyre. While Fyre Fraud does not entirely omit the Bahamian workers' perspective on how they were neglected compensation for their work, they spend a significant amount of time uncovering how the privileged executive board dealt with their fall from grace and losing much of their wealth and luxurious lifestyle. While one does not need to necessarily omit personal narratives from privileged individuals, it does strike a certain discomfort in viewers as it appears that Hulu does not care to tell the everyday lives that were affected by this massive scamming and conning operation. Overall, I greatly appreciated the thoroughness of this film and hope it is the first of many documentaries to come from Hulu that shed a light on issues of popular culture.

Perfect for you if you like stylized montages

[skc-phd · 5/10 · 18 February 2019]

I cannot handle documentaries like this that use so much B roll and unrelated clips. Well, related only in the sense of a key word. It's that "stylized montage" from Reality Bites that I can never get out if my head. The one with the pizza spinning around like a record player. That's my definition of irony. The actual documentary looks like the awful, fake documentary in a fictional movie. Ugh

Much better than the Netflix version of the Fyre Festival

[asc85 · 8/10 · 15 March 2019]

It certainly is interesting that 2 documentaries about the Fyre Festival got released nearly simultaneously by two streamers...Hulu and Netflix. Although the Netflix version received generally more positive reviews and will be seen by more people than Fyre Fraud due to Netflix's larger subscriber base, I feel the Hulu version is the superior version. Using IMDb's 10 point rating scale, I would give the Netflix version a 6 out of 10. I think a lot of one's preference is based on what you think is the truer representation of the Fyre Festival. The "Fyre" version on Netflix basically says, "This was a plausible, credible attempt to put on the Fyre Festival, but too many things didn't work out." The "Fyre Fraud" version on Hulu basically says, "This was an absurd, ridiculous, unrealistic idea from the very beginning that was never going to work out." So after watching both, I think the Hulu version is closer to the truth than what Netflix did. Fyre Fraud is also the much more entertaining of the two to watch. The supposed controversy of Billy McFarland appearing in the Hulu version doesn't make sense to me, because I thought he came off far worse in the Hulu version than in the Netflix one.