Starring: Javier Cámara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Dueñas, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, Hugo Silva, and Guillermo Toledo
After Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In a couple of years ago, I swore I'd never watch one of his movies again. It was too much for me. It was just too much. Two years later, here I am again with I'm So Excited, Almodóvar's latest comedy. Unfortunately for me, his twisted, often perverted sense of humor is on full display here. He also looks at the quirks and ticks of each of his characters. Though all his usual stylistic flourishes are apparent in his latest feature film, I'm not so excited for I'm So Excited.
Peninsula Flight 2549 is set to take off from Madrid and land in Mexico. However, this plane will never make it to its destination. Pilot Álex Acero (Antonio de la Torre) and co-pilot Benito Morón (Hugo Silva) do not properly secure the landing equipment and the chocks are swallowed. After takeoff, Alex and Benito scramble to find a nearby airport where they can execute an emergency landing. For now, they're stuck circling around the Spanish city of Toledo. They're eying La Mancha Airport where a financial scandal is running rampant, but all efforts to secure an empty runway thus far have been unsuccessful. With chaos brewing in this midair crisis, the stewardesses opt to drug the passengers in Economy Class seats with "muscle relaxers". They're not so lucky with their Business Class customers though.
The Business Class passengers want to know what's happening. With dominatrix Norma Boss (Cecilia Roth) ready to issue a formal complaint, they soon find out. They also begin to learn about one another including actor Richard Galán (Guillermo Toledo) and his missed appointment in Madrid, 40 year-old virgin Bruna (Lola Dueñas) and her desire to find love aboard the aircraft, and newlyweds (Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Laya Martí) on their honeymoon set to have their wedding night even if aboard the plane. All the while, the pilot and his all-male Business Class crew are all fixated on fulfilling their sexual fantasies with one another. Beyond this, the three male stewardesses (Javier Cámara, Raúl Arévalo, and Carlos Areces) would like to entertain their customers with a song.
It's needless to say that I'm So Excited is a bit too much for me. Pedro Almodóvar and his cast certainly get the party started aboard Peninsula Flight 2549 with tequila, Valencia cocktails, and mescalines. It's just not the right party for me. His fixation on all that's gaudy seriously backfires. He attempts to incorporate all of this rather tacky material into what he deems to be dark humor. In the end, it's just not funny. This kind of material should be beneath a veteran filmmaker like Almodóvar. Foreign film from a revered director or not, I'm So Excited is a trashy film that is no better than Movie 43, A Haunted House, or Scary Movie 5.
After watching this mess of a movie, I feel like some of the angry, annoyed passengers on screen. I definitely need a few drinks. This Pedro Almodóvar flick disappoints on all levels. It's like watching one big orgy with old Spaniards aboard an airplane. There's normal intercourse, gay sex, rape, and even sleepwalking sex (for lack of a better term). It's all just too much. Fittingly, tequila slammers should help alleviate the pain. Don't get too excited for I'm So Excited. This hot mess of a movie gets a wasted rating.
