Flamin' Hot Trailer: The Brand Biopic Era Continues With The Story Of Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Two's a coincidence, but three films about the origins of real-life brands releasing in the span of a few months? That's a trend.
On the heels of "Tetris" and "Air" comes "Flamin' Hot," the latest entry in the growing sub-genre that /Film's Rafael Motamayor has referred to as "the brand movie or product biopic (the prodpic?)." This time, the focus is on Richard Montañez, who rose from being a humble janitor at a Frito-Lay factory to a successful businessman and the self-proclaimed creator of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The film is based on Montañez's memoir, "A Boy, a Burrito and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive," and was directed by former "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria, drawing from Lewis Colick and Linda Yvette's script.
Similar to "Tetris," Longoria's brand movie will be skipping theaters to release directly to streaming on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally — although, as we recently saw with "Air," it probably would've been better served by a theatrical run first, even a limited one. Your loss, Mickey Mouse!
Watch the Flamin' Hot trailer
"Flamin' Hot," like other brand movies, isn't strictly a biopic, but it sure looks like one judging by the trailer. We even get one of those clichéd scenes where the lead — in this case, Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez — is suddenly inspired to make history and create the very thing that will forever alter their life. The whole thing gives off strong "Bohemian Rhapsody" vibes (and I don't mean that in a good way).
Still, early critical word of mouth is decent following the film's premiere at South by Southwest in March, with "Flamin' Hot" sitting at 72 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. Notably, however, /Film's Jacob Hall was among the movie's early detractors, describing it in his review as "a broad, hokey collection of clichés that pauses every five minutes for a new speech from a new character who lays out why this unlikely story is so important." Between Jacob's criticisms and the trailer, I'm not exactly feeling encouraged, but I reserve the right to change my tune once I've seen this thing for myself.
Among those joining Garcia in the "Flamin' Hot" cast are Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Emilio Rivera, Tony Shalhoub, Matt Walsh, Pepe Serna, Bobby Soto, Jimmy Gonzales, Brice Gonzalez, Vanessa Martinez, Fabian Alomar, Mario Ponce, and Hunter Jones. The film will hit Hulu and Disney+ on June 9, 2023. Its synopsis reads as follows:
FLAMIN' HOT is the inspiring true story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), the Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican American heritage and upbringing to turn the iconic Flamin' Hot Cheetos into a snack that disrupted the food industry and became a global pop culture phenomenon.