Gli amanti passeggeri

A plane has problems with the landing gear and so it is circling around waiting for a landing path. And while waiting for the landing the crew and the passengers do and tell a lot.

I read the movie is also supposed to be a farce of Spanish politics. Since I know absolutely nothing about Spanish politics I have missed it all. Maybe if I was familiar I would have liked the movie even more.

But it was still entertaining. My favorites of the movie are the flamboyant flight attendance. They have a great comedic presence and timing. I think one of my favorite parts of the movie is when they perform "I'm so excited" for the passengers.

At the same time it didn't bring as much humor with the passengers. They were all outrageous characters but it didn't go too far and we didn't get to connect too much with them. Of course this is a farce comedy and one shouldn't expect too much depth but I feel a little more could have been done.

Still it is a pretty entertaining and unique comedy. I would recommend it for people who aren't too offended by sexual humor and enjoy some lighthearted comedy.

I'm So Excited is every frame a Pedro Almodóvar film (Talk to Her, Volver, The Skin I Live In): bizarre characters are painted in warm, luscious hues; politically incorrect dialogue are infused with a hint of cheerful irreverence. This saucy Spanish comedy revolves around three gay stewards, two bisexual pilots and a flurry of passengers bound for Mexico.

The main narrative occurs against the backdrop of the plane interior itself. When the landing gear of Peninsula Flight 2549 malfunctions, sexual tensions escalate and inhibitions are shed in tandem to the knowledge of impending death and doom.

We meet the trio of raging queens Joserra (Javier Cámara of Talk to Her), Fajas (Carlos Areces ) and Ulloa (Raúl Arévalo), chief pilot and Joserra's married lover Alex, his co-pilot and one-night-stand Benito. Seven passengers venture in-and-out of the cramped and narrow-spaced cockpit to interrupt this nervous dynamic. Hyper sensitive virgin psychic Bruna (Lola Dueñas) reacts to her powers of ESP and detects the "smell of death" in certain parts of the plane. Norma (Cecilia Roth), a demanding corporate highflyer in business class has mysterious connections to the oligarchs of Spanish society; she fears the malfunction is an assassination attempt to bury the secrets she knows as a high-end dominatrix. A mysterious and nameless Infante, scandalous middle-aged celebrity Ricardo, troubled husband and father Sr. Más and a pair of dopey, drug smuggling newly weds occupy the rest of Flight 2549's fuselage.

Attempts to communicate with family and loved ones ground below are made possible by the only cabin handset that functions — but conversations can be heard over the PA system. This narrative device connects passengers in the plane to various characters on the ground; thus giving shape to back stories that serve to stress and accentuate the panicky mood unfolding within the plane.

This latest offering by Almodóvar is an unbridled, satirical film with flashes of political and sexual humour. In many ways, I'm So Excited is a valuable testament to the hedonistic cultural wave of La Movida Madrileña (the famous Spanish 80s) where freedom of expression, transgression of taboos imposed by the Franco Regime, use of recreational drugs all exist to celebrate a new spirit of freedom in the streets of Madrid.

Far from existing in a farcical vacuum, it would be prudent to consider the historical undertones in this excellent film — it is a subtle reminder of how far the Spanish identity has since evolved in post-Franco years.

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Sometimes you go into a movie simply wanting a little fun. After so many years of Pedro Almodovar making twisted psychodramas and searing romances, often to acclaim like Academy Award nominations/wins and film festivals across the world, we now have a total screwball comedy that is another 'bottle' comedy from summer last year (remember This is the End all staged in one place). It's a filmmaker not going for anything serious, anything too deep, anything that will be About The Human Condition (in caps). And if there is, that's icing on the cake. This is just about farce, in the lightest ways for this filmmaker now in his latter years.

Here you get to see what these characters do at the end of their self-involved ropes. There's a lot of energy and a lot of silliness with these characters, played by actors who are familiar players in this director's oeuvre, but the sketches click mostly. It's only when Almodovar leaves the plane for a scene where a character calls a woman and we see her story for a bit that it drags and loses its energy.

But those male flight attendants are hysterical, in timing and how they express everything as BIG and frantic as possible, and when the music number of the film's title hits it finally releases one of only thinking of the song as that scene from Saved by the Bell (or maybe it's just for me it did). Fast, loose, and knowing how goofy it is, its movie-making that hits the spot at the end of a long day and maybe with a little drink on the side (minus he mescaline).

The cine-goer attends this movie in order to "laugh" and "have fun". He/she ends up confused and disappointed. That's because he/she is missing the point: this is not a comedy, it's much more than that. Don't stay on surface, it's a political allegory in many ways. If the cine-goer could "get it" we'd probably be living in a different political order.

Spain and the crisis in the EU: the passengers (and viewers/cine-goers) in the second class are sleeping during the flight and cannot understand what is really happening. They have no right to the truth. The same applies to the viewer and critic, this movie is so clever that proves that the viewer/critic is also asleep since he/she can't get what's behind the "comedy".

It is only the A-Class passengers that are free of manipulation and have the right to know the truth. The crew could represent in a way, the "technocrats". However, they all have their own problems and ethics - it is criticized the way they came up to "A-Class".

Now, take a moment to think: why did we watch the first scene with Penelope Cruz? Just that the director lets his friends do a small guest part? It's a world where nobody is doing his/her job properly. Instead of that, everybody cares about his/her "personal world" which becomes that hilarious like when tweeting messages while bleeding. Further more, it's a world full of political corruption and economic scandals. When do they all come from? It's a world of a meaningless individualism. And, under pressure, it's all about sex. Hallelujah Sigmund Freud.

"I'm So Excited!" from 2013 is not Almodovar's best effort - it's as raunchy as it gets, and it seems like it's on the light side for him. It really isn't, if you understand Spanish politics.

The plot concerns a flight from Madrid to Mexico with an economy class that's been drugged so they'll sleep through the flight and won't become restless, and a first class with just a few people in it. Those people consist of a dominatrix, a virgin psychic, a man escaping from bank fraud, an actor, a couple on their honeymoon, and a man who describes himself as being in the security business.

They are attended to by three gay male flight attendants who at one point lypsync and dance to "I'm So Excited." They also pass out Valenciana cocktails with mescalin in them.

It seems that the plane might not land - there's a problem with the landing gear and the pilot is frantically seeking an airport where he can make an emergency landing.

Someone described this as a gay Airplane! and I suppose in a way it is. Almodovar I think was saying that the economy class (i.e., the poor) are kept unaware of circumstances. The wealthy people in first class are awake and, if not in control, at least they know what's going on.

If you're not a fan of Almodovar, you will undoubtedly hate this. I liked it - I'm not one for raunchy, sexual humor -- but because I like Almodovar and his quirkiness, I put up with it. I have to say the guys' rendition of "I'm So Excited" was hilarious - I watched it a couple of times. Also, Miguel Angel Silvestre, one of my favorite actors, plays one of the honeymooners. Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz have cameos.

Almodovar isn't for everyone, but he's an intelligent director with an offbeat sense of humor. If you're unfamiliar with him, I recommend you start with "Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" or "All About My Mother," or the wonderful "Volver."