NOW ON HULU! This curl is on fire in Flamin’ Hot, the explosive feature film debut by director Eva Longoria. Adapted by Lewis Colick and Linda Yvette Chavez from the autobiography by Richard Monteanez, it lays out the legend of where that bright red hot coating that rules the snack food world came from. After surviving constant childhood beatings from his drunk father (Emilio Rivera), Richard (Jesse Garcia) is caught in the mosh of selling drugs on the street to get by. His wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez) is also in deep, and both need to get it together.
“…lays out the legend of where that bright red hot coating that rules the snack food world came from.”
He convinces Lonny (Matt Walsh) to give him a break and gets hired as a janitor at a Frito-Lay plant. Richard befriends the head machinist Clarence (Dennis Haysbert), hoping to get a chance to get the knowledge to move up. Then the economic whiplash of the 80s occurred, and Richard holds on to his broom for dear life against the waves of layoffs. By the early 90s, Richard still has dreams in his head but a broom in his hands. Then one day in the park eating elote with his kids, Richard notices how much hot sauce and spices all the Mexican-Americans were covering their munchies with. Richard has a vision and starts working with Judy to perfect a flavor powder that would be hot and yummy enough to make their palates dance. When he finds the perfect pitch of spice, he uses the janitor room’s phone to call Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub), the CEO of PepsiCo, Frito Lay’s parent company. Richard lets Roger know there is a vast untapped Hispanic market out there, and Richard has just the flavor that the snack giant could tap it with.
First, let’s deal with the 800-pound flaming hot Cheeto in the room. Several years ago, Frito Lay disputed Monteanez’s claim that he invented the flaming hot flavor and produced internal documents showing how they had been developing it for years. The screenwriters of Flamin’ Hot address this full-on with scenes showing Frito Lay hard at work in the lab as well as reinforcing that it takes a very long time for a company to develop and release a flavor. They also ensure that when Richard tastes his first flaming hot Cheeto off the line, he declares they did not use Judy’s recipe. There is also a lot of fun with the accuracy of Monteanez’s recollections, with many scenes being shown in multiple variations.
