Fyre: The Party That Never Happened (Netflix)

There are 2 documentaries about this failed music festival that came out right around the same time. I watched this one, while the other can be viewed on Hulu. This is a fascinating story. A spoiled rich millenial named Billy McFarland with way too much time and money hooks up with Ja Rule and decides to put on a lavish music festival on a private island, which he purchased, in the Bahamas. He sets up a huge promotional campaign aimed at rich millenials to lure them and spend hoards of cash with a promise of models, celebrities, music, beautiful places to stay, plenty of booze and a experience to remember for eternity. This was supposed to be the “shit”. Well, they got it half right because it all turned to shit and hundreds and hundreds of young folks got snookered as the whole event fell apart from nothing short of disorganization, manipulation and greediness from a spoiled rich kid. I found it odd that so many kids would want to spend all this money, and were talking thousands of dollars, to see Blink 182 and a bunch of other crappy bands. The lure was like the pied piper, but done with lavish websites and pretty sandy beaches. The documentary tells the story very meticulously and and how it all comes together and unravels is fascinating. What I also found interesting is once this guy was finally arrested and sent to home confinement (in his penthouse BTW), he began selling bogus tickets to the same people who he screwed over with the festival. Unbelievable. Check this movie out because it’s really an interesting story that made headlines and has now become a punchline.

Rating ***1/2