Pedro Almodovar is an Oscar winning director, creating artistic and often supremely dark pieces of engaging cinema. His previous film, The Skin I Live In, was a hauntingly tragic tale that wowed critics with it’s powerful tone and even bagged the Spanish director an Oscar. So when I heard (from the Graham Norton show no less), that his latest was a cabaret like campfest about a doomed flight to Mexico and its eccentric cabin crew, it was pretty obvious Almodovar felt it was time he had some fun with his craft, and expressed more of his personality as a person, rather than just a film maker.
Set almost entirely in the cabin of a commercial aeroplane, and after a couple of cheeky cameos from the Almodovar alumni, the film kicks off how all flights do; with an overly animated emergency demonstration. With this, the film’s tone is laid out right from the off and everything about I’m So Excited is as colourful and extravagant as its fun time 60s style title sequence. Cleverly limiting the cast to just the front end section of the plane, it becomes something of a one set stage play with an ensemble of actors having as much fun as the director himself. As a result, everyone in I’m So Excited is great, but great in a pantomime sort of way that often feels like you’re watching Carry On Espana. The delightfully flamboyant trio of Javier Camara, Raul Arevalo & Carlos Areces lead proceedings throughout, offering a constant stream of comic relief with pretty much every word they utter, including a completely ridiculous musical number that camps it up to the level of Liberace.
The ensemble cast are all great.
Although a bit of blue is a common theme in Pedro Almodovar’s movies, it’s really not subtle here and to the wrong audience, the humour will be seen as a bit crass. Raunchy innuendos come as common as a limp wrist, limiting the appeal to only the most liberal of people. Put simply, readers of the Daily Mail will not be amused by the frivolous frolicking of every single character on the plane and the frequent casual use of narcotics. The director clearly isn’t being serious at any point of his latest movie, freely championing his own sexual orientation without feeling the need to censor himself, or homosexuality in general. As a result, he forges an overly raunchy 90 minute free for all that is just good old fashioned fun with tongue firmly in cheek for as long as the plane is in the air, but knowingly targeting a specific sort of audience. There are a few tender moments between the more serious passengers and their family/loved ones back in Spain, but these are only fleeting, offering nothing more than padding to flesh out the rest of the characters a little more. On the whole, the film is completely stupid, and while not being a patch on any of his previous output in terms of narrative, his abundant technical prowess is still evident throughout. Visually it’s as vibrant as an Elton John 50th birthday party, and the space is utilised impeccably, never becoming claustrophobic or repetitive despite such a confined setting.
Feeling like a modernised, relevant and ultimately funnier version of a Carry On film, I’m So Excited is a hilariously camp and fantastical farce of a movie even if a little childish. If you’re quite the prude, or a Westboro Baptist, then this film definitely isn’t for you. It’s by no means a blokey film, or even one you’d watch on a date, but I can definitely imagine my Mum and her 5 sisters having great fun watching the filthy fun unfold…I just wouldn’t watch it with them, that would be weird.
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