I'm So Excited! (2013)

Rating: 4/5

The latest picture to come out of Spanish cinema genius Pedro Almodovar is somewhat different from his usual material. His previous film The Skin I Live In was an absolutely chilling thriller that I rate as one of the best movies I've ever seen. And now, out of the clear blue sky, he brings us 'Los amantes pasajeros,' or I'm So Excited!, which is an entertaining camp comedy about a plane that develops technical problems mid-flight, leaving the troubled passengers to the mercy of three very gay stewards. 

Although the stewards are arguably the main characters, rather like Love Actually, all the passengers have their own little subplots and their own little endings, creating engaging and likable characters. The plane's business class is populated by an angry ageing dominatrix, an actor whose former lovers get into a darkly humorous tangle, a sexually frustrated psychic and a pill-smuggling newlywed whose young wife does some very interesting things in her sleep.

And among the gay/bisexual/married but also gay crew, there are various love-related grievances, most of which have very funny outcomes and processes. Under the pressure of keeping the agitated passengers calm and unknowing of the plane's malfunction, the stewards perform a hilarious dance number, before resorting to serving Mescaline-spiked cocktails. And according to the narrative, Mescaline causes extreme...arousal, among other psychedelic effects, leading to a situation somewhat reminiscent of the Town Picnic scene in Elvira Mistress of the Dark.

Some are criticizing the film for its supposedly cruel and flippant portrayal of several situations, arguing that characters are taken advantage of sexually. However, this is intended purely as a light-hearted comedy, and should not be entered into begrudgingly. All I can say is I laughed. I laughed a lot, and so did the entire theatre, but none as much as one: I couldn't even tell if this certain individual was male or female, but they had the most outrageously loud and hilarious cackle, which continued almost unceasingly throughout. This individual was surely the loudest laugher I've ever shared a movie theatre with!

I'm So Excited is colourful, camp, darkly comical and certainly uplifting, with all the satisfaction you'd want from a sappy rom-com, and the sap replaced with silly and sometimes crude humour. It is very funny, and a nice, although different, example of Almodovar's diverse expertise.