Flamin' Hot

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.

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.

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.

I needed to watch a feel-good, and it does its job as well as could be expected. Unfortunately, what I only discovered afterwards was that although the movie aspires to be a true story of going from being the underdog to the top, the entire thing is a fabrication, as documented by The Los Angeles Times. Montañes has publicly changed important details of the story over his lifetime, and even PepsiCo itself disputes that he had anything to do with Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Most importantly, Enrico was not even with the company at the time this happened, and Montañes was actually promoted to a machinist shortly after starting as a janitor.

On the basis of emotional sentiment this story checks the boxes by properly building up each sequence with just enough "hope" to maximize the most of its climax. There's a sense of relatability, not only in a product that is universally recognizable, but also in a character that we seem to know all too well in each of our own lives. The tone is light and though you receive a certain payoff toward the end, the reservation of critical moments throughout the rest of the film lingers as an aftertaste. We're entering the era of product films and whether the pieces for each story come from extraordinary roots or simply fall into place they all tend to feel the same. Jesse Garcia is an enjoyable screen presence who leads a unique Hulu project, and from what I've seen with his previous performances, he's only trending upward. I approached the film with a curiosity for an origin story that may or may not have been entirely dramatized, and walked away rooting for the aspirational spirit that is sometimes deeply embedded within each one of us.