Carlos Areces, Raúl Arévalo and Javier Cámara (Paola Ardizzoni and Emilio Pereda/Sony Pictures Classics)The opening credits to Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited are a treat. Mid-century design elements in bright colors are at play with the story of a modestly line-drawn little suitcase, misdirected for parts unknown. Where did the little suitcase go? A ninety-minute answer to that question would have been more entertaining than what follows.
Almodóvar knocked one out of the park with his last film, the provocative thriller The Skin I Live In. My favorite Almodóvar films have been more somber projects like that film and Talk to Her. Trailers for his new film featured three flamboyant stewards lip-syncing to the Pointer Sisters’ I’m So Excited, and marked it as a return to the outrageous, campy Almodóvar. But even fans who enjoyed the trailer may be let down. It’s not a good representation of the film.
Like the trailer, that translated title is misleading. The Spanish title, Los Amantes Pasajeros, refers to passing lovers as well as passenger lovers, an accurate account of an airplane melodrama that follows the fleeting exploits of its customers. The movie’s English title takes its cue from the musical number featured in the trailer. I remember years ago going to movie night at a friend’s house, during which I saw a friend of a friend lip-syncing a Madonna song in drag. That’s what I’m So Excited feels like, with better production values. But that’s not all that’s going on in the movie.
The film begins underneath Peninsula Flight 2549. Airport techs Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz celebrate the surprise announcement of a new baby, but the excitement proves to be a costly distraction.
José María Yazpik and Cecilia Roth (Paola Ardizzoni and Emilio Pereda/Sony Pictures Classics)The all-star cameos show this to be a reunion of old friends, and many of the passengers on this doomed airbus are members of the director‘s stock company. From the virgin psychic (Talk to Her’s Lola Dueñas) to the bisexual co-pilot (Volver‘s Antonio de la Torre) to the persecuted dowager (Cecilia Roth, who has been working with Almodóvar since 1982’s Labyrinth of Passion), the actors will resonate for anybody who has followed Almodóvar’s work, but the characters don’t hold the interest that they should.
The movie’s early scenes coast by on the strength of that great title sequence and a vividly designed Airbus interior. It should be enough for a good movie. The director steers his cast and crew to a welcome course correction with a grounded subplot. But any resemblance to an outrageous Mexican telenovela wears off when the movie stalls and resorts to cheap shocks.
There are good ideas here. The plane is forced to fly in circles when its landing gear is hobbled, and there plenty of life metaphors to be taken from that mechanical detail. Stewards slip drugs to everyone in economy while the well-heeled in business class run the show, which passes for political commentary. Unfortunately, the movie itself stalls and circles itself, and for all its wackiness, induces sleep.
The Pointer Sisters’ song turns out not to be an appropriate title. Viewers may want to follow the lead set by Barry Bostwick’s even more flamboyant interpretation of another Pointers hit.
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Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar
With Javier Cámara, Lola Dueñas, Antonio de la Torre, Cecilia Roth, Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz.
Rated R for strong sexual content including crude references, and drug use
Running time 90 minutes.
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema
