Longoria’s feature film debut tells warmhearted tale of popular snack’s origin
Actress Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame made her directorial debut last year with La Guerra Civil, a thoughtful and well-told documentary about Mexican-American boxer Oscar de la Hoya. She’s now helming her first feature film, and the results are more mixed. With Flamin’ Hot, Longoria tells an inspiring rags-to-riches story that, while a bit cliched, features enough strong performances and heart to recommend it.
Adapted by screenwriters Lewis Colick and Linda Yvette Chávez (creator of Netflix’s Gentefied), the film is based on Richard Montañez’s 2013 memoir A Boy, A Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive. In the memoir, Montañez, a Mexican-American janitor at the Rancho Cucamonga Frito-Lay plant in the ‘80s and ‘90s, claims he came up with the idea for the brand’s wildly successful Flamin’ Hot Cheetos snack. The problem, though, is that Montañez’s claims were pretty solidly debunked by an LA Times investigation two years ago.
Longoria, however, has maintained that the film doesn’t purport to tell the accurate history of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos product, but rather represents Montañez’s “truth”, as he did indeed move from maintenance man to marketing exec. So we are left with a film for which “loosely based” actually means “totally made up.” But the question is: does that matter? Given the film’s controversy, then, the best way to consider it is as a fairy tale work of fiction, and, on that level, it mostly succeeds.
As played by Jesse Garcia (Narcos: Mexico), Richard is a smart and entrepreneurial high school dropout on the precipice of a life of gangs and drugs. A tempestuous relationship with his abusive father Vacho (Emilio Rivera), marriage to his supportive and loving high school sweetheart Judy (Annie Gonzalez), and fatherhood all motivate Richard to find a more stable line of work. As a janitor at Frito-Lay, Richard is persistent and curious enough to be taken under the wing of Clarence (Dennis Haysbert), an African-American engineer who permeated the predominantly white management ranks and sees Richard’s potential.
What follows is an against-all-odds fable-like story in which Richard, who realizes the Hispanic market is being underserved by Frito-Lay’s bland snack offerings, creates a hot spice seasoning inspired by the fiery Mexican cuisine he and his family and community love. The story follows Richard’s unwavering attempts to get Frito-Lay to make products using his spicy slurry despite racism, classicism, and the challenges that come from being the absolute lowest man on the company totem pole.
Cynics might say that the film is little more than a glorified commercial for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, but, like this year’s earlier business marketing themed films Air and Blackberry, Flamin’ Hot uses the titular product as a catalyst to tell a fun and entertaining character-driven story. That’s not to say the picture isn’t without problems.
Longoria alternates between an earnest, dreams-can-come-true After School Special tone (“He may not know about market shares, but he knows about people!” a character exclaims about Richard) and a winking Adam McKay-like irreverence that often feels distracting. Richard imagines an executive board meeting discussion in the voices of his street buddies, for example, as well as an over-the-top, glorious reaction to his idea presentation to parent company PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico (Tony Shaloub).
Garcia, though, gives a warm and genuine performance, and is appealing enough as Richard to make us root for him. Haysbert, Shaloub, and Matt Walsh (Veep’s Mike) as Richard’s supervisor Lonny, also elevate some of the script’s more prosaic moments. But the real VIP is Gonzalez, who creates such a fierce, tender, and loyal character in Judy that we’re left wishing she were on screen as much as Garcia.
Regardless of its veracity, then, the film, with its Anyone-Can-Be-Anything message — as Richard says,“There’s no such thing as just a janitor” — works as a charming, feel-good tale that’s worth seeing, despite a few imperfections. It may even make you trade your viewing snack from popcorn to Cheetos — Flamin’ Hot, of course.
—————————-
Flamin’ Hot begins streaming today on Hulu and Disney+.
