Flamin’ Hot is in the same vein as other corporate/product bios like Air, Tetris, and Blackberry… only it’s about Frito-Lay. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, to be specific. A food I’ve never tasted since I’m not a huge Cheetos fan in general and I have the temperature palette of cold mayonnaise. But I was curious since every time I watch a “We Taste American Snacks for the first time” YouTube video (of which there are many), Flamin’ Hot Cheetos always seems to be in the box. I never realized they were so popular… but here we are.

The flick follows a Mexican-American janitor at a Frito-Lay factory who thinks up a spicy coating with the help of his family and tries his best to sell it to corporate. He’s eventually successful as evidenced by those scary red looking Cheetos on grocery store shelves.

As a true story, I’m a little suspicious of some of the facts but short of, you know, Googling it, I’ll just go with their version. It might not be true, but I’m not taking a marketing course… I’m watching a fictionalized account on Disney+ (also available on Hulu). So I’ll leave my suspicions behind…

The movie has slightly overcooked heart-warming moments but, hey, the temperature is right… and if it’s a little cheesy, well that’s just on-brand too. I thought it was a fun, amusing tale fairly well told… and pretty inspirational. It’s not the best dramatization but it works and you might laugh (or cringe) at the results.

Score: 84