Review: I'm So Excited!

For some reason I possess a magical gift that many often wish they could have - the gift of bullshitting. Not only that, but I specifically possess the gift to bullshit about films I haven't seen. I can name you every Jim Jarmusch film, in chronological order, with 90% accuracy. I know the twist in The Crying Game. So, although I've only seen two of his films - and only one of them in the cinema - I feel like I'm all too familiar with Pedro Almodovar's work.

I'm So Excited! is Almodovar's 20 millionth film, and a light comedy, something ironic considering that it's set up in the air. Those who found Almodovar's last work, surreal plastic surgery nightmare The Skin I Live In, will surely find this an entirely different affair.  The film bases itself in the Business Class section of an airplane circling around Spain after two of the workers at a Spanish airport (Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz in brief cameos) got distracted and made an error whilst setting up the plane. Basically, the plane's got nowhere to, and everyone's convinced that it will explode the moment it hits the ground. CUE COMEDY HIJINKS. No, really.

I don't know what it is, but European comedies seem so much more charming than English ones. Possibly it's do with with everything being subtitled, warmer weather and generally more attractive people? What the magical ingredients are exactly, I'm not sure, but what I am sure of is the charm and (fairly) sophisticated nature of French comedies such as Priceless and The Intouchables. Obviously I'm So Excited! is Spanish, and Almodovar is known for moments of bathos in his films, even the serious ones, therefore the film does, on occasion abandon the charming route for one that is just on the right side of vulgar. A bizarre sex scene to an Egyptian influenced Django Django song, for example, could easily have been crude were it delivered with the slapdash approach of an American Pie film, however here it is so ridiculous that you are simply forced to laugh. Another thing that is different here than in so many other slight comedy films is that Almodovar offers us characters that become fleshed out throughout the film, as more drinks are poured and more revelations let slip. Those gathered in the Business Class section may sound like the punchline of a joke - "A psychic, a dominatrix, an aging film star and a banker are all on a plane..." but we actually grow to know and like these characters. As well as those gathered on the plane we also meet the three camp air stewards - again, just on the right side of offensive - who act almost as a Greek chorus to guide us through the sheer madness.

I'm So Excited! may not be the best comedy in the world. It may not be the best Spanish film. But it offers something I have been severely lacking in recent cinemagoing experiences - laughter. After the gorefest of Evil Dead and pastel-coloured daze of Spring Breakers, it's all too nice an experience to put your feet up for a while and watch a comedy that offers jokes that are actually clever, and bewildering song and dance numbers to old Pointer Sisters songs. So excuse the poor pun but I can tell you with relish that I'm SO EXCITED (sorry) to see this film and laugh again.

Grace Barber-Plentie