Review: 'Flamin' Hot' tells an entertaining — if fanciful — story of a striver and an iconic food brand's origins

As “based on a true story” movies go, the rags-to-riches tale in “Flamin’ Hot” is equal parts amusing and inspirational — even if the “true” part isn’t so true.

Richard Montañez — played as an adult by Jesse Garcia — tells his story, which starts growing up in migrant farm camps, learning from his grandpa (Pepe Serna) that the only thing he has of value is his family name. Richard’s life takes some hard turns, running with gangs as a teen and dealing with the abuse from his father, Vacho (Emilio Rivera). The bright spot in his young life is falling in love with Judy (Annie Gonzalez); they get married and have kids, but must deal with double shifts, unemployment and a refrigerator on the fritz.

With some luck and a gift for talking his way into situations, Richard lands a job as a janitor at the Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. He works to impress his supervisor, Lonnie (Matt Walsh), and quickly learns the plant’s pecking order — executives on top, followed by the managers, then the engineers, and at the bottom are the janitors, most of them Mexican, like Richard. Still, Richard persists, convincing a senior engineer, Clarence C. Baker (Dennis Haysbert), to show him how the machines work.

Richard finds inspiration from, of all people, Roger Enrico (played by Tony Shalhoub), the CEO of Frito-Lay’s parent company, Pepsico. Richard sees Roger’s pep-talk videos in the cafeteria, and takes to heart the plea for employees to “think like a CEO.” With the snack business sinking, Richard makes an observation: Mexicans like him don’t like bland flavors like Cool Ranch Doritos. So Richard and Judy experiment with different hot peppers to get the “good burn” they love in elote and other Mexican foods. The result: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. 

The screenplay, by Lewis Colick (“October Sky,” “Charlie St. Cloud”) and Linda Yvette Chávez (who co-created the web series “Gentefied”), manages to be authentic and phony at the same time. The phony part is the story, because reporters in 2019 discovered that Montañez’s story that invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos wasn’t actually true. The authentic part is how the movie captures the many facets of Mexican American culture that influenced the Montañez family along the way.

Director Eva Longoria makes an assured feature debut, breezily taking the audience through the highs and lows of Richard’s life and the fierce, open-eyed devotion Judy shows throughout their marriage. She finds the humor and heart in this story, and gets committed, passionate performances out of Garcia and Gonzalez.

“Flamin’ Hot” joins a recent spate of movies inspired by corporate origin stories — Nike shoes in “Air,” a computer game in “Tetris,” a PDA in “Blackberry” — that find nostalgia in success stories of the recent past. Whether or not the story behind “Flamin’ Hot” is entirely true, it’s entertaining and charming, which is a tasty combination.

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‘Flamin’ Hot’

★★★

Starts streaming Friday, June 9, on Hulu and Disney+. Rated PG-13 for some strong language and brief drug material. Running time: 99 minutes.