Friday, July 5, 2013

 

I'm So Excited

I'm So Excited official site If you are a fan of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar like me, you will be both surprised and delighted by his latest bold and hilarious comedy "I'm So Excited" (Los amantes pasajeros | Spain 2013 | in Spanish | 95 min.). Unlike his previous films that emphasize on twisted plots and complex characters, this film is light and campy with bright and colorful images. You almost can hear that Pedro Almodóvar is giggling while he unleashes one joke after another in the film.

It all starts with a small mistake caused by ground crew team Jessica (Penélope Cruz) and León (Antonio Banderas) — how can they not to be in Pedro's movie? A plane en route to Mexico from Madrid gets in trouble and needs to find a runway for emergency landing. Before the plane can find that runway, all chaos breaks loose while it circles in the air. However, farces only happen in the business class and the cockpit, because the entire economy class has been drugged into a deep sleep.

To divert passengers' attention from the plane's problem, three flamboyant flight attendants dance to the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited" among other crazy acts. The three gay stewards are atypical however you look at them: Ulloa (Raúl Arévalo), the lover of closeted pilot Álex (Antonio de la Torre), never stops taking tequila shots or popping any pill he can get his hands on; Fajas (Carlos Areces) prays with his portable altar; and Joserra (Javier Cámara) tries to prove the co-pilot Benito (Hugo Silva) is not straight by getting into his pants.

On the passenger side, the characters are much more diverse than the gay crew — a psychic virgin Bruna (Lola Dueñas), a queen of a gossip magazine Norma (Cecilia Roth), a Mexican hit man Infante (José María Yazpik), a corrupted banker Más (José Luis Torrijo), a womanizing soap opera star Ricardo Galán (Guillermo Toledo), and a newlywed party animal couple Novia (Laya Martí) and Novio Miguel Ángel Silvestre). Will they survive the flight? Or do Fajas have to pray harder and Ulloa have to drink more?

in I'm So Excited official site Pedro Almodóvar obviously has his share of amusement while making this goofball comedy with a wink at the Spain's economical and political status quo. Like his characters who liberate themselves into the orgy of booze, drug, and sex in the sky, the helmer doesn't limit himself to the conventional sense of credibility. His sense of humor and wild imagination create these outrageous over-the-top characters. You feel so lucky that you are not on that flight while you can't stop chuckling.

I am not disappointed by Pedro Almodóvar's changing pace in this film. He should be entitled to loosen up and to make a goofy comedy to entertain the audience, including himself. Of course, some incidents in the film seem to be too convenient to happen at the right place and the right time, and there seem to have too many yawning characters in the passenger camp. But I enjoy the moments when they make me laugh, although I probably want to avoid them in real life, especially if I fly.

"I'm So Excited," a Sony Pictures Classics release, opens on Friday, July 5, 2013 in San Francisco Bay Area.


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