Flamin' Hot is a biopic about author and businessman Richard Montañez who went from janitor to executive at Frito-Lay by creating new flavors and pioneering the company's access to the Latinx market. The movie unfolds at a frenetic pace, relying heavily on narration from Montañez(Jesse Garcia), breezing through events and time culminating in his pitch to the executives and the success of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
Jesse Garcia brings a lot of energy to the role which is commendable but tonally the performance(and the movie) are all over the place. At one moment it's overt-the-top slapstick comedy the next heart-felt grounded family drama. These scenes whip-lash into each other at such a rate and with such extreme modulation it fails to coalesce into much coherence. The supporting cast have talent and are having fun- Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shalhoub- but there's not much depth or inspiration to this rags-to-riches underdog story. Not because the story itself isn't compelling but because of how it's packaged. The result is more ADD Lifetime movie rather than dramedy biopic.
The visual style has the same kind of slick digital sameness one can expect with movies on a budget, it works but it doesn't pop. The editing is all over the place but there are some nice comedic turns, a cut-to with Montañez narrating theoretic discussions between the Frito-Lay execs, some of the montages, but overall it feels like the editors, Liza D. Espinas and Kayla Emter, are trying to will the movie together out of less than ideal components with the more-is-more approach.
It's great to see a Latinx story centerstage that feels more authentic and based in reality than something like In The Heights. Director Eva Longoria puts in a valiant effort but whether because of issues with the script or budgetary/time constraints isn't quite able to deliver the celebration of the people and culture that she clearly intended. There is also the question of how true this true story is, it appears Montañez's story is pretty much true accept the titular product itself, he invented flavors for the Latinx market and pitched them to the exces and worked his way up but it wasn't on the validity of Flamin' Hot but Chili Lime Fritos and other flavors. Does this matter? Not really, this is a movie, but unfortunately not a good enough one to put it above the fray for this kind of discussion to derail some of the promotional momentum.
Passionate but uneven, its reach exceeds its grasp.
Currently streaming on Hulu.
Stream It.
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