Almodovar Gets Excited

The landing gear for a commercial flight from Spain to Mexico is jammed. The closest available airport is in financial crisis and there is no one to help land the plane. This story has all the ingredients of a disaster film. Instead it is the premise of Pedro Almodovar’s comedic farce "I’m So Excited." The crew of the distressed aircraft find a way to circumvent the drama and panic by drugging the passengers and half the crew. With the tension discarded we can now get on with the show.

Mr. Almodovar has ventured into the dark recesses of the human mind and has told intense stories about parents and children, religion, lust and love, fate and circumstance. Once in a while he will ease up and deliver lighter fare such as "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." He has done that with "I’m So Excited." Although both are comedies "Women" had more substance. "I’m So Excited" seems more of a mischievous exercise for Mr. Almodovar.

To say there is no drama in "I’m So Excited" is a misnomer. For the crew there is plenty of drama. Joserra (Javier Camara), Ulloa (Raul Arevalo) and Fajardo (Carlos Areces) are the three gay flight attendants who put the rest of the plane under sedation. With the situation stable they are able to concentrate on their own issues. Joserra’s lover is married. Ulloa cannot get enough lovers, alcohol or drugs and no one seems to be home when Fajardo prays for his co-workers to abandon their vices. The pilot (Antonio de la Torre) has a shadowy past. The co-pilot (Hugo Silva) wonders what its like to be a homosexual until at the end of the flight and then there’s some confusion about what it is to be heterosexual. The four passengers who avoid being drugged have their own issues and mysteries but nothing that cannot be predicted.

What "I’m So Excited" is is a homosexual romp that plays like an American teenage romantic comedy of today. That means more raunch and sexually explicit innuendos. Being this is a Spanish movie and the Europeans are less squeamish about sex than Americans and Mr. Almodovar being blunt there is no airbrushing the needs or actions of the characters in this movie.

Mr. Almodovar is a quick wit and has good comic instincts. You can tell he was having a lot of fun making this movie and may have been letting off some steam. All of his other movies left something to ponder long after they ended. "I’m So Excited" won’t do that but it will cause you to laugh and squirm for ninety minutes.