FLAMIN’ HOT
★★★
OUT NOW (DISNEY+) / CERT TBC / 99 MINS
DIRECTOR Eva Longoria
CAST Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Matt Walsh
Hollywood’s bizarre current obsession with corporate origin stories continues with Flamin’ Hot, which delves into the founding of a flavour of Cheetos — not Cheetos themselves, you understand; just one particular spicy flavour. It is a testament to Eva Longoria’s lively, stylish direction and goofy, charismatic performances from Jesse Garcia and Annie Gonzalez that the film largely overcomes not only a corn-chip-thin premise, but one that apparently isn’t entirely true. The wobbly relationship the narrative has with actual history does take some of the shine off, but the central message — that anybody can be a “somebody” — holds fast. In Longoria’s energetic hands, it’s hard not to be beguiled by the legend printed here.