“Flamin’ Hot” stretches the “based on a true story” line to the breaking level.

The story of a janitor turned advertising and marketing guru Richard Montañez received debunked by the L.A. Occasions two years in the past with Frito Lay’s blessing. It’s nonetheless attainable to savor a lot of Eva Longoria’s function directorial debut which proves snappy, honest and not possible to hate.

The movie’s eagerness to tweak our feelings hits a crucial level mid-film, although, and received’t surrender till the top credit function.

Jesse Garcia stars as Richard, a good-natured soul battered by American racism and a disapproving Daddy (“Sons of Anarchy” alum Emilio Rivera). Richard flirts with hood life till he meets Judy (Annie Gonzales) and turns into a father.

That leaves little time for thuggery, so Richard finds work as a janitor with Frito-Lay’s Rancho Cucamonga plant.

He refuses to accept that entry-level gig. He plots methods to creep up the company ladder, realizing his household calls for greater than what a janitor’s wage can afford. He befriends a gifted mechanic (Dennis Haysbert, who oozes gravitas in addition to any residing actor) however is regularly rebuffed by casually racist superiors.

Richard received’t surrender, and when he tinkers with a signature Frito-Lay chip he stumbles onto a snack that would revolutionize the corporate.

Longoria retains the tone gentle and comedic, utilizing snappy musical cues and intelligent digicam work to spice up that spirit. It’s in sharp distinction to the forces aligned in opposition to Richard. He faces oppression in almost each sequence, which typically proves as doubtful as Richard’s Frito-Lay claims.

There’s little doubt Mexican immigrants from the period confronted their justifiable share of bigotry, but it surely’s trotted out early and sometimes right here in a manipulative style. The identical holds true for Richard’s lengthy, sluggish skilled ascent. We’re led to imagine racism reared its head in each a part of an immigrant’s life, however Richard’s story belies that actuality.

The movie additionally fails to grant Frito-Lay CEO Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub) the nuance the character calls for. His gentle spot for a fellow entrepreneur is touching, however the film spends a lot time shredding the capitalistic system that it’s odd to worship an business titan like Enrico.

Shalhoub is a nice actor and handing him a extra difficult function would have elevated the story past a straight-to-streaming automobile.

“Flamin’ Hot” performs quick and unfastened with greater than the core story in play. It showcases gang life as an lovable a part of Mexican tradition, a operating gag that grows stale over the movie’s in any other case environment friendly operating time.

Longoria is certainly one of Hollywood’s most outspoken progressives, and she or he confirms that standing with an out-of-the-blue swipe at President Ronald Reagan’s financial file.

Actually.

“I didn’t know politics affected people, especially hard-working people like us,” Richard says by way of certainly one of many narrated moments. It’s just like the progressive Longoria broke the fourth wall to remind us of her off-screen inclinations.

The irony is apparent.

“Flamin’ Hot,” whether or not marginally correct or full fiction, honors laborious work and refutes the Left’s victimhood narrative.

Richard may have given up at any level in his journey. Others might need carried out simply that. He is aware of that as a proud Mexican, and a father of two, he couldn’t take the straightforward means out. He needed to maintain hustling, and maintain innovating, till his breakthrough second arrived.

And it did, later than anticipated however stuffed with wealthy, satisfying rewards. That’s the American dream many immigrants crave.

One other irony?

DeVon Franklin co-produced a movie that takes lazy jabs at each religion and people who embrace it with out a lot of a corrective arc. Wealthy and Judy pray at one level within the film, but it surely’s performed extra for laughs than any non secular balm.

It’s not possible to not cheer on Garcia’s efficiency, gritty and uplifting, however the screenplay is so nakedly devious it’s equally laborious to not cry foul. Each step Richard takes is met by ignorance, bigotry or simply de facto cruelty.

The film clicks when it lets the characters and the mild moments that seize their group prepared the ground.

There’s a extra correct story to be informed right here, one wherein a company big wakes as much as the blossoming Latino market and begins talking to them with their chips.

Even higher?

The story of a shrewd marketer who knew the general public would eat up a pretend however correct story like so many Flamin’ Scorching chips.

HiT or Miss: “Flamin’ Hot” serves up a spicy tackle the American dream, albeit one which manipulates viewers at each flip.