A Lukewarm Snack Chip Biopic

“We all write our own stories,” declares Richard Montañez in his voiceover narration for Flamin’ Hot, the movie that dares to reveal the origin of the favored Flamin’ Hot line of snack chips. In Montañez’s case, that’s actually true; Flamin’ Hot relies on his memoir about his inconceivable rise from janitor to Frito-Lay advertising govt, the place he — no less than in his telling — “invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in a secret test kitchen, breaking barriers and becoming the first Latino frontline worker promoted to executive at Frito-Lay.”

That’s the story instructed in Montañez’s guide and now in Eva Longoria’s Flamin’ Hot, a film that positively radiates with print-the-legend power. This irresistible rags-to-riches story has already been disputed by some observers, together with a 2021 Los Angeles Times article that claimed Montañez significantly embellished his position within the launch of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. That piece included an official remark from a Frito-Lay spokesman that learn “We value Richard’s many contributions to our company, especially his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not credit the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or any Flamin’ Hot products to him.”

The notion that this snack success had many fathers suggests a way more fascinating film than Flamin’ Hot, one which leaned into the Rashomon-esque nature of the diverging accounts round who created what. Longoria’s movie solely briefly acknowledges that concept, like when Montañez’s voiceover notes that his spouse says he likes to “exaggerate,” and in a single scene the place Frito-Lay scientists are proven dripping unnamed chemical compounds into beakers in an try and artificially engineer a spicy snack chip — a stark distinction to Montañez’s natural strategy. As depicted onscreen, Montañez developed his personal “spicy slurry” to pour over Frito-Lay merchandise by shopping for each chili pepper within the grocery retailer and taste-testing every till he discovered the right mix of flavors.

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Some elements of Montañez’s unbelievable story are indeniable: He did work his means up from a upkeep man to a gig as a Frito-Lay advertising govt who specialised in multicultural promotions. (That skeptical Times article quoted one former govt who mentioned “without Richard, this thing [Flamin’ Hot Cheetos] would not be out there.”) Either means, a film like Flamin’ Hot isn’t a documentary, and its historic accuracy is arguably much less vital than its emotional authenticity. Do we care about Richard? Do we cheer for his successes?

Sometimes. The story Flamin’ Hot tells is intermittently inspiring and energetic, and it rests on a likable efficiency from Jesse Garcia because the irrepressible Richard, a basic underdog who comes from nothing and refuses to take no for a solution. The movie’s bigger drawback isn’t its truthiness or lack thereof; it’s the truth that for all its boasting about shining a highlight on a distinctive story, Flamin’ Hot usually feels acquainted and formulaic, like one thing that would have rolled off an meeting line like those within the manufacturing facility the place Richard Montañez made his groundbreaking discoveries.

Garcia narrates Richard’s story from starting to finish, beginning together with his childhood in Southern California, the place he handled an abusive father and racist classmates, and then turned to crime as a younger man. When his endlessly encouraging spouse Judy (Annie Gonzalez) will get pregnant, Richard realizes he must quiet down. Despite his lack of an schooling, Richard is a born salesman, and he talks his means into an entry-level job as a custodian for Frito-Lay. Once there, he ignores the orders of his superiors (together with a plant supervisor performed by Matt Walsh) who inform him to maintain quiet and do his job — and as an alternative begins asking questions on how chips are made and how they may very well be improved.

He ultimately bonds with a plant machinist named Clarence (Dennis Haysbert) over their shared struggles with discrimination; Clarence has been handed over for one promotion after one other due to the colour of his pores and skin, even though he’s the one who taught lots of the plant’s white management every thing they learn about snack manufacturing. Clarence takes Richard below his wing, helps him be taught the ins and outs of the enterprise, and backs him up when Richard stumbles on his huge thought: Catering to the underserved Latino market — “our people,” Richard likes to name them — with a line of snacks filled with spices.

Accurate or not, the sequence the place Richard develops his Flamin’ Hot idea is the film’s spotlight thanks largely to the scene-stealing efficiency of Brice Gonzalez as Richard and Judy’s son and chief product tester. He likes spicy snacks, but in addition typically screams in agony on the warmth. (“It burns!” he cries earlier than including, “It burns good.”) At simply over 90 minutes, Flamin’ Hot is as mild as a Lay’s potato chip; the kind of snackable content material which you can watch on streaming in 15 or half-hour nibbles with out worrying about lacking something in the event you look away to reply a textual content message. (Flamin’ Hot is the primary film to debut concurrently on Disney+ and Hulu.)

Making her characteristic directorial debut, Longoria has a great deal with on pacing and tone; Flamin’ Hot breezes together with flashes of humor. She additionally indulges in lots of essentially the most drained clichés of based-on-an-amazing-true-story movies, together with my single least favourite: The second when each key member of the supporting forged (together with the movie’s antagonists!) gathers to provide the hero an enthusiastic standing ovation. Please, Hollywood: No extra standing ovations on the finish of biopics.

“Our people are tired of the same old flavors,” Richard declares to the assembled Frito-Lay entrance workplace when he makes his huge pitch for his Flamin’ Hot snacks. While Flamin’ Hot’s selection of topic would possibly separate it barely from the bigger canon of great-man biographies, it’s in any other case a really acquainted recipe coated with slightly new seasoning.

RATING: 5/10