I'm So Excited Review
By: MattInRC
If you don't know Director Pedro Almodóvar, you should. His foreign-language films range from the dark and powerful The Skin I Live In, to the easier-to-digest Talk to Her, with his comic style coming out in films like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. His newest release - I'm So Excited - is Almodóvar at his most outrageous, filling the screen with enough sexual escapades and homoerotic dialogue to keep you laughing throughout.
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I'm So Excited translates to "passenger lovers" and "the fleeting lovers" and it's really like a one-night-stand comedy in the skies. When a passenger plane can't land due to stuck gear, the crew must prepare for the inevitable while the tower searches desperately for a runway. The reason for the problem is due entirely to the ground crew, laughingly played by two Almodóvar regulars in sadly short cameos. Later on, as the plane continues to fly in circles in the hopes of finding a runway, passengers in economy-class have been drugged, while those in business grapple with their own mortality. We're not quite sure how the drugging happened, but we'll cover that later. It's not all tears and dramatics here, as the homosexual flight crew and pilots drink and eventually screw their time away. Those in business class - including a soap opera star (Guillermo Toledo), a crooked banker (José Luis Torrijo), and a paranoid porn star (Cecilia Roth) - are not easily entertained when they find out about the plane's issues. They're also seeking the identity of a shadowy figure (José Maria Yazpik) who later turns out to be a trained assassin; but soon, the shots begin to flow, as do the sorted stories of each passenger.
Many of the funniest scenes revolve around the cockpit, where the bisexual pilot (Antonio de la Torre) and the somewhat-straight co-pilot (Hugo Silva) have to deal with the obviously 'out' head steward Joserra (Javier Cámara) and his drinking issues. Joseera makes it a habit of telling the passengers and crew about his inability to tell lies, and can't stop blurting out the gory details of a panicked former passenger who was whacked by the business class, all while downing tequila and then throwing up later. His fellow homosexual stewards Ulloa (Raúl Arévalo) and Fajas (Carlos Areces) perform a hilariously campy lip-sync of the Pointer Sisters 'I'm So Excited' in an effort to calm the growingly tense passengers. But it's not just the promise of death at the end of their journey that's getting everyone stirred up - it's the mescaline-laced cocktails that Joserra and the others are serving that eventually sees almost everyone screwing, including the virgin and physic (Lola Dueñas) who tells everyone of her sexual availability in Act 1. Her 'de-flowering' scene is great, as she gives it to an unsuspecting drugged dude in economy.
To say I'm So Excited introduces new members to The Mile High Club with rapid frequency is an understatement, but don't think the film is just a sausage fest. Much like 2012's For a Good Time, Call, this one's got just enough character development to entertain, while the raunchy comedy is really its best parts. Almodóvar paints bright colors and lots of tight shots while also throwing enough CG airplanes into the mix to remind you that the thing's gonna crash soon. Interestingly, the director has stated that the circling of the airplane has some political references as well. Spain's current economic crisis, along with bank failures (you'll see it in the newspapers of the crooked banker) all point to something a little deeper happening here. However, I’m So Excited works primarily as a laugh-out-loud, sexually-laced comedy about individualism and never missing out on the moment. Composer Alberto Iglesias wraps it all up some deliciously Hitchcock-inspired thriller music, lending even more to the film's whimsical style.
I'm So Excited is certainly not for everyone - the fast-paced subtitles don't come close to capturing the true dialogue, and some of our actors (probably big in Spain) don't work as well as they could have. Its hedonistic third act would not make for good viewing with your mom. But make no mistake: if you want a more hilarious Summer comedy than Hangover III ever was, then you could do a lot worse than I'm So Excited. I think I like it. It's rated R for almost everything except nudity and has a runtime of 90 minutes.
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