At 63 years of age Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar still shows no sign of conforming to Hollywood normality with his latest film, I’m So Excited! Instead he has reverted back to the sort of farcical comedy that he made his breakthrough with in 1988 and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown .
Peninsula Flight 2549 has a technical failure that is endangering the lives of the people on board and, while the pilots and control centre try to find a solution, it’s left to the bubbly flight attendants in First Class to make the flight as enjoyable as possible for their passengers. Yet these “trolley dollies” have their own baggage which they have inconveniently brought on board with them – sex, alcohol, drugs and death. Life in the clouds is seemingly twice as complicated as on the ground.
Almodóvar assembles a great selection of his regulars for this spectacle – Cecilia Roth, Carmen Machi & Javier Camara – and also reserves some cameo slots for those who have moved onto Hollywood but haven’t forgotten their roots – Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz & Paz Vega. But it’s the five gay/bisexual male crew members that make this film a slapstick comedy with added elements of surrealism. The gloriously over the top camp rendition of I’m So Excited by the three flight attendants is one of pure comical choreography that has both feet in musical theatre. Along with the comedy aspect, Almodóvar has imprisoned these passengers on the flight where they have to face their own individual fears without the aid of modern technology and actually talk to their fellow stricken travellers.
All this is set to a backdrop of 60s styling: bright red & blues, camp exuberance and inappropriate sexual jokes. Some of the jokes may overstep the boundaries, but here they are played with such aplomb that you can’t help but giggle and smirk as the seminal fluid is wiped away. The film even has the gall to make a statement about the economic climate in Spain.
I’m So Excited! may not push the boundaries as much as Almodóvar has been doing of late, but this will have you smiling from beginning to end with its crazy camp comedy and sexual frustration.
Mark has awarded I’m So Excited! four Torches of Truth
