It's the feel-good snack food origin story of the year. In director Eva Longoria's "Flamin' Hot," she traces the rise of businessman and author Richard Montañez (played by Jesse Garcia) from Frito-Lay janitor to the self-proclaimed inventor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos — with a little help from another visionary man in his corner. And as PepsiCo's legendary former CEO Roger Enrico, Tony, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Tony Shalhoub brings a warm, lighthearted touch to the kind of character who rarely gets to be the cinematic good guy — a C-suite executive.
The helmet-haired Enrico is a far cry from Shalhoub's five-season turn as midcentury dad Abe Weissman on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" — or OCD-enhanced detective on "Monk," a role he's reprising in an upcoming movie. Yet if there's a through line to Shaloub's body of work, it's his fascination with the American dream, and the ways in which our aspirations and traditions are passed from generation to generation.
