Written by Guillermo Troncoso.

Pedro Almodóvar is arguably one of the finest directors in the world. The Academy Award winner has provided cinema with melodramatic works of art with films like All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education and The Skin I Live In. Expectations are usually quite high for a writer-director of such talents; which is what makes I’m So Excited! so much more of a disappointment.

A group of passengers on a flight to Mexico City receive some unwelcome news when it is announced that there are issues with the plane’s landing gear, meaning they’ll have to fly circles over Spain until a landing path is cleared. In the meantime, tequila is consumed, sex is had, relationships are formed and secrets are revealed.

I’m So Excited! aims to be a throwback to Almodóvar’s early comedies. There’s one key difference with this film – it isn’t funny. Irreverent and sex-obsessed, the film takes us on a lively trip that manages to be both silly and ultimately pointless.

There are many stories that unfold throughout the flight. Throwing tangents around – often throwing to stories on land – that provide mild attempts at structure, without staying with any one plot long enough. Admittedly, the film isn’t about any one thing in particular. It’s about a group of people stuck on a flight and the comedic scenarios that Almodóvar creates.

I’m So Excited! benefits slightly from its impressive cast. As three extravagant plane attendants, Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces and Raúl Arévalo provide the film with likeable and somewhat amusing “leads”. The whole cast is quite good, even if the screenplay provides them with some truly cringe-worthy moments of sexual activity. Even Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas appear in a brief how-impressive-is-it-that-I-have-these-two-in-such-small-roles moment that seems to be solely for marketing use.

Proudly camp and sexually frank, the film’s randomness and episodic nature fails to provide a clear outline for us to place the unfolding craziness. It all depends on how amusing you find some of these high-jinks. Overall, this is like sitting next to an irritatingly camp, drunk person on a flight that thinks they’re hilarious. You want to be nice, but you’ll be looking at a plane crash as a viable escape plan.

THE REEL SCORE: 4/10

– G.T.