Review of I'm So Excited! (2013) by Manny C — 13 Aug 2013

After the Gravity of Broken Embraces (2009) and The Skin I Live In (2011), Pedro Almodóvar has decided to return to comedy, a genre with which he broke in the 1980s. His latest comedy started with Antonio Banderas (León) and Penélope Cruz (Jessi) and when I got excited seeing them, that was it from them! The actual stars of the movie were Javier Cámara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Dueñas and Raúl Arévalo. The original Spanish title is Los amantes pasajeros, which has a double meaning of "The fleeting lovers" and "The passenger lovers". The narrative, except the short part with Banderas and Cruz, is set almost entirely on the Airbus plane heading to Mexico, actually to Toledo, after discovering that they are having difficulties.

Almodóvar describes it as "a light, very light comedy" - and that was it, under the master's directing - nothing more, nothing less. If you expect anything else, you will be disappointed! A story about love, sexuality, acceptance, joy, humanity in general, is told through bisexual pilots Benito and Alex, gay stewards Ulloa, Fajardo, and Joserra, and a plane full of bizarre characters. They are all in for the ride that could determine the rest of their lives and they all react the way they feel, they learned or frivolous, but very rarely the way we would expect!

The film was produced by the director's brother, Agustín Almodóvar, and he confirmed that Los amantes pasajeros had been sold in advance worldwide and that these pre-sales have completely funded the film, without any need for any financial contribution from the Spanish market. Which, gave the director a freedom to do most of the things the way he wanted, without worrying about the final cut. But, the result wasn't great as expected. Sometimes, though, we need movies like this... to relax us, to make fun of each other and make fun of others, society in general. If you admire the director, add it to your list, if you don't - skip it.