I’m So Excited! (Los
amantes pasajeros)
(Spain, 90 min.)
Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces, Raúl Arévalo, Lola
Dueñas, Hugo Silva, Antonio de la Torre, Cecila Roth, José Luis Torrijo, José
María Yazpik, Blanca Suárez, Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Paz Vega
![]() |
Javier Cámara as Joserra and Raúl Arévalo as Ulloa Photo: Paola Ardizzoni & Emilio Pereda © El Deseo, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics |
Pedro Almodóvar joins the mile high club with his latest
comedy I’m So Excited! A light and
fluffy sex farce set miles above ground, I’m
So Excited! is bound to leave film buffs in the art house crowd feeling
lightheaded and dizzy. The film, which tells of the hijinks aboard a doomed
aircraft travelling from Spain to Mexico, is the director’s silliest and campiest
film in years. It’s a nice break after the darkness of The Skin I Live In, but Mr.
Almodóvar might have let the high altitude rob the film of the arty substance
that fans have come to expect in his films. However, even the stylish(ish)ness
and giddy camp value are outrageous enough to ensure that the great director’s auteur status is not in jeopardy.
It’s too bad that Almodóvar couldn’t gather all these actors
to play with more substantial material, so the sitcommy silliness of I’m So Excited! reeks of missed
opportunities. It seems pointless to get Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas together
in the same frame, which is an Almodóvar milestone in itself, yet give them
nothing to do other than perform a two-minute Twitter gag. It’s silly to gather
rare and costly ingredients like truffles and saffron only to serve dinner
guests with microwaved airplane food. It might satisfy the belly, but
sophisticated palates know that the chef is capable of better. I’m So Excited also lacks the presentation
and visual flair for which the great filmmaker is famous, as the medium
two-shot aesthetic makes I’m So Excited
look like the first Almodóvar film shot for exhibition on an iPod. Ironically
enough, the tight shots probably make the film ideal as an in-flight movie.
On the other hand, the spirited cast makes I’m So Excited! a rambunctious escape.
They’re playing with the campiest material that Almodóvar has provided in a
while, and one can’t help but laugh during the mid-flight musical number led by
the plane’s trio of flamboyantly gay flight attendants played by Javier Cámara,
Carlos Areces, and Raúl Arévalo. It’s also very Almodóvar-esque to see a whole
cabin of Spaniards have nothing but sex on the brain when they learn that they
could soon be plummeting to their death. The sexy joie de vivre of I’m So
Excited! is a fun, fleeting entertainment no matter how thin it is. Oddly
enough, it’s only when I’m So Excited strays
from the airplane into a subplot involving the mistresses of a lothario aboard
the plane (José Luis Torrijo) that the film seems to be looking for filler to
bring the flight to the ninety-minute mark.
Almodóvar also shows himself to be a capable pilot when
commanding a craft with such a small engine. There’s only so much one can do
aesthetically when shooting in the small confines of an airplane, yet Almodóvar
manipulates space to his advantage by finding all sorts of room for odd canted
angles and invasively tight framing to make characters—and viewers—hot under
the collar as hormones rage in the debauchery-fuelled ride. The director’s
signature use of colour is similarly muted by the restrictions of the airplane,
but I’m So Excited makes the banality
of standardized customer service pop out against the gaudy personalities of its
colourfully gay characters.
This latest flight of fancy, while not Almodóvar’s best, is
an amusing diversion for cinephiles in the mood for a decent sex comedy. It’s
nothing more and nothing less. I’m So
Excited might make a decent gateway film for new visitors to the land of Almodóvar,
and frequent fliers should enjoy the return to the flamboyant camp of his
earlier films. All summer passports need a stamp of “Viva, Pedro!”
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
I’m So Excited screens in Ottawa at The ByTowne until Thursday,
August 6th.
It then screens at
The Mayfair beginning August 30th.