I’m So Excited
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Javier Cámara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Dueñas, Raúl Arévalo
Sony Pictures Classics
Rated R | 90 Minutes
Release Date: August 2, 2013

On a flight to Mexico, bisexual pilots Benito (Hugo Silva) and Alex (Antonio de la Torre), gay stewards Ulloa (Raúl Arévalo), Fajardo (Carlos Areces), and Joserra (Javier Cámara), and a plane full of bizarre passengers are in for the ride of what could be the rest of their lives.

Written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar (Broken Embraces, The Skin I Live In), I’m So Excited! is a light and frothy – and exceedingly raunchy – comedy follows the exploits of three unapologetically loud and proud gay flight attendants on a wounded aircraft destined to fly in circles until a runway opens up to make an emergency crash-landing.

Joserra, Fajardo, and Ulloa drug the economy-class passengers with muscle relaxers so they can better focus on making the flight as pleasant as possible for the middle-aged virgins, mustachioed assassins, philandering actors, world-class escorts, and secretive businessmen in first-class. The in-flight entertainment includes spiking passengers’ cocktails with mescaline and performing a beyond-flamboyant production number to the Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited,” complete with jazz hands, pelvic thrusts, and synchronized leg kicks.

Almodóvar’s colorful, sexually explicit film is over-the-top in about every way conceivable, a silly fantasy filled with obscene behavior and boozy, drug-addled sex between complete strangers. An opening sequence featuring past Almodóvar collaborators Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas explains the aircraft’s malfunction; the landing gear swallows the wheel chocks on takeoff after Banderas neglects to remove them from the runway.

Javier Cámara (Talk to Her, Bad Education) delivers a great performance as lead stewart Joserra who, in-between doing shots and psychedelic drugs, “flies the friendly skies” with his secret lover, sexually-confused pilot Alex. I’m So Excited! a mixture of Airplane!, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Clue with a dash of ABC’s Lost. We gradually learn why each first-class passenger is onboard the doomed aircraft and shared connections between them are revealed throughout the film’s brisk 90-minute runtime.

Fans of Almodóvar’s diverse filmography will no doubt enjoy his latest film, while others may find I’m So Excited offensive in its matter-of-fact approach to sexuality. I found it to be an exceedingly fun, uninhibited celebration of life and freedom from oppression, whether it be sexual or societal.

Trailer

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