Well, hello there film fans! Slick Dungeon here, back to review a bit of an oddball of a film full of grit, determination, innovation, exaggerations, Cheeto dust, and a potential Oscar winner. I am talking, of course, about the “true” story of Flamin’ Hot, telling the tale of how one of the spiciest snacks in the world came to be. Somehow this film is full of controversy, more inspiring than expected, and an Oscar contender. That’s right, this movie could technically win an Oscar. Fair warning, if you don’t want your eyes tearing up as if you’ve inhaled that famous fiery red orange concoction, this review contains spoilers. You have been warned. Although, can you really spoil a product line? Um, yeah I guess you can. Anyway, if you want to watch the movie first to stay spoiler free, do that and then come on back here for the review.

What’s the Story?

Before I get into the review, there is, strangely, a bit of background to cover here. Flamin’ Hot is meant to depict a real life story about a man who goes from janitor at a Frito Lay manufacturing plant to inspirational executive at Frito Lay, opening up a new market with an innovative product line. Only… that may not be the full truth here. There have been multiple articles debunking the story of Flamin’ Hot in places like The New York Times, The LA Times, and NPR.

Regardless of the controversy, the filmmakers charged forward with making this movie, claiming the story was never about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, but actually the story of the life of Richard Montanez. There are some facts here which are not in dispute at all. Montanez was, indeed, a janitor at Frito Lay. And he did become a top executive of PepsiCo. To me, that can be inspirational all on its own and anyone who can claim that sort of accomplishment should be proud.

What’s a little less clear is if he actually had the idea of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or if it was more of a high level executive group idea.

I’m not here to figure out what the truth is. This ain’t that kinda blog. What I am here to do, is review movies. So I’m going to take this from the perspective of a film goer and see if the movie works, if it is worth watching, and how well it was made.

Why Review This?

There are a lot of movies out there. Personally, I am not in favor of this trend we have where the movies have started becoming not stories of people but products. Take for example, Air, Blackberry, and Tetris. While these are technically about the people behind the products, one could argue these films are nothing but one giant advertisement for said product. Heck, even Barbie could be considered that but at least it isn’t trying to say it’s based on a true story.

In the case of Flamin’ Hot, we have another, “based on a true story” style film about a product line. But here’s the thing. This year I want to try to review every film that is up for any kind of an Oscar in 2024. (Don’t hold me to that, there are a ton of movies on that list but I will do my best) And guess what? Flamin’ Hot is nominated for an Oscar. Best Picture? Nope. Best Director? Nope. Best Actor? Nope. This movie is nominated for… Best Original Song.

Yeah, so even if the movie itself is embroiled in some controversy, even if the story is pushing one that is more favorable to a whole corporation than to a single movie goer, the song could still be the best one in film from 2023. The song that is nominated is called The Fire Inside with music and lyrics by Diane Warren. Will it win? Never take my predictions as true on Oscar stuff because I have a pretty low percentage of being right. However, my prediction is this will not win best song because it has too much competition from Barbie.

By the way, the song only shows up during the credits so I watched the whole movie just for that. Since I did watch it, I might as well tell you about it. Spoilers follow.

A rough beginning

Richard Montanez is a hard working kid in southern California. He stands out in school where most of his classmates are white and they make fun of him for being Mexican and eating burritos. Not one to overlook an opportunity, Richard has the idea of letting some of the white school kids eat one of his burritos. The kid loves the burrito because, well because burritos are amazing as everyone knows. So Richard decides to sell his burritos for a quarter to the kids at school. Already he has a solid head for business.

Unfortunately for Richard, rumors go around that he is not earning his money but stealing it. He ends up getting arrested and essentially gets caught up in a life of crime. This makes it difficult to get a stable job because he now has a criminal record and no formal education to speak of. However, he has a supportive wife, Judy, his friend from school. Richard is determined to go legitimate and after a bit of convincing and using his powers of networking and persuasion, Richard does land a job at Frito Lay. He’s working as a janitor and he has nothing to be ashamed of as he’s earning a decent paycheck, he’s stable enough although somewhat dependent on government assistance and things might be looking up.

Reaganomics

At first, it looks like Richard is going to make it big. He persistently asks knowledgable people about how the factory works, what the machines do, and it seems like he could be on the rise and able to do more than just clean factory floors. But, the 1980’s hit pretty hard when it came to cutbacks on government subsidies. Trickle down economics did absolutely nothing to help people in need, and inevitably, people began to lose jobs, corporations cut back on production, and Richard knew his job would soon be in jeopardy as well.

He basically stagnates in his role for a while as everyone just tries to hold on. Some of Richard’s friends get fired, no one seems to get promoted, and life, in general, is looking tough.

Video Created the Cheeto Star

Fate, it would seem, decides to step in. Richard watches a corporate video produced by the CEO of the company, Roger Enrico. In it, Enrico tells his workers to, “think like a CEO.” Yes, that’s right, a wealthy CEO is here to save everyone because somehow CEO’s have this magical ability to inspire people. (Insert sarcasm in that last sentence if you did not already)

Anyway, Richard does take this advice to heart. And he realizes a few things. First, Frito-Lay is not actually serving the market of the Latino population. They don’t seem to buy the chips. Second, there are spicy flavors everywhere. True inspiration hits though when Richard is consoling his sons as they eat elotes (Mexican street corn), and his son yelps that it burns. Richard asks if his kid is okay and the kid responds, “I like it. It burns good.”

If you have ever enjoyed a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos you know exactly what that kid is saying.

Between this incident and the video from the CEO, inspiration has struck. Richard is about to change the world. Maybe not the world, he’s about to change food. Maybe not food, he’s about to change snack food. Yeah I think that’s where it lands.

Cue the Flamin’ HOt Montage

We see scenes of Richard and Judy taking unseasoned chips from the factory and trying every kind of hot seasoning they know of until they get their kid to say it, “burns good.” At the same time, some corporate dudes in lab coats are basically trying to do the same thing. In the movie, Richard says he doesn’t really know what was going on with that and this is basically the heart of the real life controversy. Were the spicy chips being produced by lab scientists paid by a corporation or did one guy have the idea to make the spicy powder? Or maybe both happened at sort of the same time. Who knows? Not me. Anyway, back to the review.

Finally, the recipe is perfected and Richard is happy with it. But there’s one huge snag. He’s the lowly janitor. Who is going to listen to him? Well, Richard decides he could call the CEO of the company. He does so, and miraculously ends up on the line with Roger Enrico. Richard has the power of persuasion and he’s able to convince Enrico they need to add a product line and save everyone’s jobs. Enrico is kindly, perceptive, and can relate to his workers. He behaves just like every company would want you to believe their CEO acts. Not in the interest of themselves or their shareholders. No, that would be beneath them. Enrico is a man of the people and he listens to his workers. Well, he supposedly did once at least anyway, according to the movie.

Enrico tells Richard to send him a box of the Flamin’ Hot chips and guess what? Enrico likes them.

Cue the moment our hero overcomes hardship and we all know we can’t live without a specific product

Even with Enrico’s approval it’s still a struggle to launch Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Richard is allowed to make 5,000 bags and put them on shelves. But, at first, they don’t sell. Why not? Lack of advertising! Richard gets friends and family from his neighborhood, factory workers, and basically anyone who will listen to hit the streets, pass out the chips and build buzz for the product. He specifically wants to target the Latino community which is underserved by Frito-Lay at this time.

This all turns out successfully and, as you probably know, there are a metric ton of Flamin’ Hot products flying off the shelves today. Richard moves up in life from janitor and becomes known as the, “Godfather of Latino Marketing.”

And the world becomes a happier place because we can eat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

In Conclusion

Is this film worth watching? It was certainly entertaining, mostly due to the enjoyable performance of Jesse Garcia as Richard Montanez. The directing was competent on the part of Eva Longoria but nothing spectacular.

In the end Montanez being known for marketing fits really well with the film because this movie is basically marketing a brand. It’s trying to say that the Latino market was not being noticed by PepsiCo and thanks to the vision of one man, the company changed what it was doing which profited both the company and the community. Even if this story were completely true, this is still marketing. It’s trying to show PepsiCo and Montanez in the best light possible. It’s what companies want us to think about both their executives and themselves.

As far as a bit of entertainment, this film is fine. It’s not Flamin’ Hot though. It’s just average.

That being said, will there be Flamin’ Hot Cheeto dust on my fingers this Sunday when I watch the Super Bowl? Absolutely.

Spicily yours,

Slick Dungeon