Flamin' Hot

Great little flick about one of the worlds most popular snack. Hot Cheetos popped up one day out of nowhere while I was in the 5th grade. They were everywhere and everyone was eating them. Leaving the familiar red stains everywhere unless you used the chop sticks but that was much later? Anyway, Eva Longoria did a great job making the movie flow. Keeping things light and entertaining. She did a great job with balancing the whole story with knowing when the scene had to be serious and when it could take those liberties to have some fun. Cast played well off of each other. Jesse García and Annie Gonzales were great together. Fun to see Tony Shalhoub, Dennis Haysbert, Matt Walsh, and Peter Diseth in this. Movie clocks in at 98 minutes but it really felt like not a single second was wasted. I did enjoy this flick with my very own bag of hot Cheetos cos why not? Good flick!

Flamin' Hot is a 2023 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Eva Longoria, about a Frito Lay janitor named Richard Montañez, who came up with the idea for Flaming Hot Cheetos.

This year has definitely been the year for inspirational biopics such as Tetris, Air and Blackberry and now this latest story - Flaming Hot is captivating, funny and heart warming.

The movie tells us about Montañez's life, his determination to make something of himself, his love and support for his neighbourhood and his family and the struggles along the way he faced.

The story is fresh and enjoyable with just enough drama to pull the viewer in. The cast was well chosen and the acting was spot on.

Does the fact that the story is not entirely true takes away the enjoyment of the movie?

Not in my opinion.

Could we truly call it a Biographical movie if its based on lies?

I leave this question to you.

This film was heartwarming, entertaining and with actual laugh out loud moments - truth to the story or not. One can argue that a huge corporation like Pepsico would deny any truth to the story because after all, any acknowledgement otherwise would open them up to a 1 billion dollar sales profit royalty lawsuit. So no matter what you choose to believe, it doesn't take away from the fun and entertaining story that was well directed, perfectly cast and performed, with great cinematography and score. It's still an inspirational story that will keep you rooting for the underdog, no matter how you slice it.

Flamin' Hot is a quintessential underdog story reaffirming the American dream to an almost cynical degree, undermined by the sheer amount of liberties taken with the true story it's loosely based on and counterbalanced by a winning charm that's hard to resist. Like most buyopics it essentially acts as a commercial for the product it's about but it cares more about one person's story which is why it works as well as it does.

Jesse Garcia gives a great lead performance with a boundless enthusiasm making him endlessly likeable and someone who's easy to root for. He's a consistent presence since he's narrating the film as well as being in almost every scene and it's a testament to his performance that he is always loveable. It's definitely his film however, there are still a couple of nice supporting turns from Annie Gonzalez and Dennis Haysbert.

Eva Longoria's direction is really impressive because there's so much energy that she's able to sustain for the entirety of the film with inventive montages and an ability to cover a lot of time in a speedy yet breezy fashion. It feels like its going to run out of steam eventually and it never does, only toning it down when needed for a more emotional scene. Marcelo Zarvos' score is very schmaltzy which works thanks to the overall warmth.

While the story presented in the movie may not be entirely true, it doesn't diminish the fact that it is an enjoyable film to watch. Frito-Lay, through a spokesperson, disputed Richard Montañez's claim and stated that he was not involved in creating the product line in question, according to an internal investigation. However, it is true that Montañez did rise from a floor-level position to a marketing executive at Frito-Lay and was involved in pitching new products, including Flamin' Hot Popcorn in 1994. Despite the lack of factual accuracy, screenwriter Lewis Colick mentioned that enough of the story was true. PepsiCo released a statement supporting Montañez's contributions and expressed their concern about the strain on their friendship with him and the Latino community due to the debunking of his story. Montañez retired from PepsiCo in March 2019 during an internal investigation. In the end, the movie offers outstanding acting, a compelling storyline (albeit fictional), and portrays Richard Montañez as the hero. The only mistake they made is telling us it is a true story. But the movie is fun to watch, therefore a 7/10. Watch or skip? Depends. If you like movies, yes. If it needs to be based on a true story to get you going, No.