Oh crumbs. Another film about stuff.
There’s been quite a run lately, from Air, the story of Nike’s run to the top; Big George Foreman, a biopic of the boxer who went on to sell lean, mean, grillin’ machines; and the long-hyped Barbie movie, out this summer. Hollywood execs, it seems, are in the midst of their merch-flogging era.
Now Disney+ is turning the spotlight on crisps – which, if you think about it, should be right up our street. Who loves crisps more than us Brits?
Alas, it’s not a tale about Tyrells, Monster Munch, or the Co-op’s Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Chardonnay Wine Vinegar flavour, for which, one must assume, a team of masochist – maso-crisp? – food developers had been recruited (try them, your tastebuds will never be the same).
Flamin’ Hot is the true story of how Cheetos’ wildly popular flavour, which will stain your fingers, tongue and clothing a lurid red for days, came to be.
Released straight to streaming with Eva Longoria behind the camera, it may sound a bit crackers but it’s actually a heartwarming tale of an American dream come true. A David and Goliath story of sorts, if David swept floors for Goliath for a pitiful monthly wage.
Our David is one Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia in a comedy wig) and his wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez), a Hispanic couple in southern California, so poor they’re forced to water down their baby’s milk to stretch it further. It’s the Sixties, and they’re battling racial prejudice while trying to earn a crust in a way that won’t land them behind bars.
Richard gets a janitor’s job at the local Frito-Lay factory. His ecstasy at getting the gig, even on the lowest “bottom feeding” rank, is endearing: his eyes are on stalks as he walks around the factory, like it’s Disneyland.
He is determined to be the world’s best janitor, but ambition gets the better of him – he’s soon begging engineer Clarence to teach him about the giant crisp-churning machines. Bribed by the temptation of Judy’s tasty homemade burritos, Clarence relents and a crash course in crisp machinery ensues – until, that is, the US economy tanks. Never mind climbing the ladder; at this stage everyone’s just clinging desperately to the jobs they’ve got.
The Reagan administration enacts austerity measures that make the US’s Hispanic population poorer than ever. Eight years pass, and the cloud of redundancy looms over the entire factory. As Frito-Lay’s bottom line plummets, Roger Enrico, CEO and Chairman of PepsiCo, Frito-Lay’s parent company, sends out a corporate video encouraging all staff to “think like a CEO” and come up with ideas to see them through the bad times.
Synapses are slow to fire, but when Richard’s eldest kid gets picked on by school bullies, he takes him for elote – Mexican street food of corn-on-the-cob rolled in spices, cheese and lime. Lightning strikes: the idea of Flamin’ Hot is born.
It’s simple really; smother bland stuff with flavour bombs that’ll make your tastebuds sing. We do it with oysters, with ribs, with salad leaves – why not crisps?
The family crack on with making the best spicy, citrussy slurry to jazz up cheesy Cheetos. When their youngest declares the umpteenth batch one that “burns good”, they reckon they’ve cracked it.
But Richard is still just a janitor and there’s an ocean of frowning execs between him and the head honcho, Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub). When the factory manager won’t listen to his brainwave, he finds a way to get it to the boss himself, who, after a rocky factory visit, gives a trial production the green-light. However the other execs are not so keen on a nobody outperforming them on their job.
With zero allocation for advertising, it’s down to Richard to get the word out. He digs deep to drum up interest, buying packets himself and roping in shifty connections to push the flavour into the right hands. Using drug-dealer tactics of doling out freebies to reel in customers raises a smile, but not as much as when genuine sales start shooting up, and Richard finally gets his thoroughly-deserved spoils.
At its crunchy core Flamin’ Hot is an uplifting tale of the American dream through the medium of crisps; an underdog story of triumph despite the odds. It’s about potential tapped from the most unassuming and overlooked of people. Dreaming big, baby.
And it’s also about changing hearts and minds, albeit one Cheeto at a time – because what brings people together more than food?
Does it feel like a feature-length commercial for Frito-Lay? Occasionally, sure. But the upbeat tone and Richard’s relationship with Judy, a shouty, determined woman who fiercely champions her husband, stops the whole thing from being too (sorry) cheesy. She simply will not let him fail. She’s the real fire in this hot-stuff story.
Flamin’ Hot probably isn’t going to win any awards, and few will find themselves racing down to Oxford Street to snap up a tenner-a-go packets from those American candy stores. But is a tasty little snack that’ll leave you with a warm after-glow.
