I'm So Excited!

The film features brief cameos by long-time acting collaborators Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, but mainly exists with a full-on cast consisting of actors Paz Vega, Antonio De La Torre, Hugo Silva, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Laya Marti, Javier Camara, Carlos Areces, Raul Arevalo, Jose Maria Yazpik, Guillermo Toledo, and others.

Over the course of the film there are many bizarre, disturbing, and frequently upsetting things that happen on the flight. Most of the quote-on-quote "comedy" that Almodovar has come up with for this farce of his revolve around things that simply aren't that great as sources of any comedic happenstance at all, and once one realizes that, it's just a downward spiral of badly orchestrated jokes -- one after another -- and pilling up for one of the worst films I've seen throughout all year. This effort is without a doubt the weakest film I have ever seen by the acclaimed filmmaker, though I will admit to being less familiar with his comedic films. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though, and not even to Almodovar's greatest fans. As someone who recognizes that he is considered a great icon of cinema, it's difficult to be understanding of how such a terrible film was made. Yet that's exactly what exists with unbearable attempts at comedy in this 'disaster' spoof that as much of a disaster as it's unquestionably misguided attempts at humor.

This is easily the worst film I have ever seen from director Pedro Almodovar and truly a terrible effort on most every level. This is a incredibly awful piece of cinema. It's supposed to be a comedy but there is almost nothing to laugh about within the film. I'm So Excited mostly attempts to make jokes about (or with) it's three homosexual flight attendants and it frequently does so by the characters discussing their sexual relationships, with an emphasis on being vulgar and making crude jokes surrounding affairs these characters have with each other while some of them have wives at home who similarly have affairs, while these attendants are 'experimenting' or otherwise cheating on someone with another. As the film progresses, it continues to make vulgar jokes about an unending array of offensive things, and even goes so far as to have 'jokes' related to what amounts to attempted suicide of a character and the drugging of several characters on the unbelievable flight before having sex. The film also jokes about drug addictions and other alarming issues that aren't so much funny as they are, well, alarmingly disturbing to find so casually joked about in an absurd attempt at a comedy that is offensive, asinine, and simply rotten.

I cannot even fathom how bad this film is on some level. It's no wonder it is one of his worst reviewed films. Quickly perusing Rotten Tomatoes, I discovered that this is his second worst reviewed film based on aggregated scoring, only second to an early effort he made in 1980. I wouldn't imagine most fans of the filmmaker enjoying it -- and I definitely do not think most viewers or film fans of any type will find something to truly enjoy about this work. This is a terrible film and not one I would ever recommend to anyone.

The Blu-ray:

Video:

The 1.78:1 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded is reasonably close to the 1.85:1 original theatrical aspect ratio. The image quality is impressive throughout the film and does a good job with duplicating the cinematography that is full of vivid, bright, and misleadingly nice colors.

Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Spanish language presentation is quite effective overall. Featuring strong ambiance and good separation between the speakers this is a decently impressive sound presentation that offers good effects and music reproduction with its surprisingly effective lossless audio mix.

Extras:

The release contains two main extras: one is entitled 'Presenting I'm So Excited' and it has some interviews with director Almodovar and cast as they discuss the film after a screening. It also leads into a trip taken to a premiere of the film as they present it before it's screening. This is certainly a surprisingly in-depth extra with only a 30 min. run time.

There's also a 'Making I'm So Excited' featurette which is basically a six minute long piece offering clips from during the filming of the film -- it does not include interviews or other background information on the making of the film. It is a poor inclusion that does little to illustrate the making of the film.

As per usual, Sony Pictures Classics also includes trailers for other recent and upcoming releases.

Final Thoughts:

I'm So Excited is supposed to a fanciful comedic farce that spoofs disaster flicks and adds something unusual to the mix from acclaimed filmmaker Almodovar. Yet it's an absurdly offensive and ridiculous attempt at comedy that falls flat at every corner of the film. It's unquestionably the worst Almodovar film I have ever seen and it's one of the worst films released all year.

I'm sure there are many fans who would consider the idea of any Almodovar film being as bad as I am rating this film to be impossible. In response to any such fan of the filmmaker, I can only say that I am positive this reaction might exist only because one hasn't seen I'm So Excited.

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema. He aspires to make movies and has written two screenplays on spec. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.