“Flamin’ Hot”, which was released in Disney+ a few days ago in South Korea, is unfortunately not hot enough for us. While it is supposed to be a colorfully spicy and interesting story behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the movie is rather plain and superficial in terms of story and characters, and, unlike its famous main subject itself, it does not make you to grab and savor it again.

The story, which spans the period between the 1960s and the 1990s in US, mainly revolves around Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), the eldest son of a poor Mexican immigrant in California. Although he did not even go to high school, Richard is a smart guy determined to make any kind of success, but he is still unemployed despite his persistent job searching, and that does not make him look that good to his disapproving father or his dear wife.

At one point, Montañez considers going back to his old criminal way for supporting his family, but then there comes an unexpected chance via one of his old friends who works at a local factory belonging to Frito-Lay. Thanks to that friend of his, Montañez gets employed as a janitor at that factory, but he is not merely content with this meager job at all. He is eager to know more about how the production system of the factory works day by day, and he soon becomes quite interested in the whole production process of various snacks including, yes, Cheetos.

And he happens to have the right guy to teach him almost everything. There is a seasoned black engineer who has been stuck in his job for many years despite his considerable knowledge and experience, and Montañez does not hesitate to approach to this black engineer even though he is not welcomed that much from the beginning. Once he enjoys a Mexican sauce brought by Montañez, Clarence C. Baker (Dennis Haysbert, who seems to be channeling someone who is somewhere between Clark Peters and Morgan Freeman) agrees to show and teach Montañez everything, and Montañez eagerly absorb lots of skills and knowledge from Baker during next several years.

Meanwhile, things get pretty hard for everyone in the factory after 1980. Besides the growing economic problems of poor working-class people like Montañez and his family, Frito-Lay comes to face a serious business problem as the sales of most of their prominent products are going down quarter by quarter, and Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub with a very smooth wig on his head), the CEO of Frito-Lay, is not so amused by this. Knowing well that his company really needs any kind of breakthrough to save itself from its current economic depression, he even attempts a sort of motivation speech for his numerous employees.

After learning that his big boss is looking for any good idea for energizing the company, Montañez begins to look for anything interesting enough to pitch to Enrico, and, what do you know, he soon comes to realize that the answer has been much closer to him than expect. After watching one of his two young sons enjoying the spicy flavor of Mexican street corn, he quickly discerns the considerable market potential of spicy snacks, and he and his family subsequently embark on concocting a special spicy flavor for the snacks of Frito-Lay during next several weeks.

Once they eventually find the right combination between spiciness and tastefulness, all Montañez has to do next is contacting with his big boss, and that turns out to be much easier than expected because Enrico is really serious about getting any good idea for his company business. Although he is rather reluctant at first, Enrico decides to take a shot with Montañez’s new flavor, and it does not take much time for him to put more faith on Montañez, though those executives working under him are not so enthusiastic in contrast.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by Linda Yvette and Chávez Lewis Colick, which is mostly based on Montañez’s book “a Burrito and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive”, adds more dramatic elements into the story, but the result is just flat and predictable without bringing much depth or insight to its hero and his cultural/ethnic background. In case of a subplot involved with Montañez’s personal conflict with his father, it is so clichéd to the bone that the eventual moment of resolution between them feels rather contrived instead of touching or poignant.

The movie is at least buoyed by the engaging presence of its several main cast members. While Jesse Garcia’s diligent efforts often prevent his character from becoming an ethnic caricature figure, Annie Gonzalez complements him well as Montañez’s no-nonsense wife, and Dennis Haysbert and Tony Shalhoub manage to dig up some human nuances from their functional supporting roles even though their appearance sometimes looks rather strained due to their glaringly artificial hairstyle.

“Flamin’ Hot” is the first feature film directed by Eva Longoria, who has been mainly known as one of the lead actresses of TV comedy series “Desperate Housewives” but has also steadily built up her own filmmaking career as directing the episodes of several notable TV drama and comedy series during last several years. As far as I can see from the final result, she is a competent filmmaker, and I can only hope that she will keep advancing more in her filmmaking career in the future.

By the way, as it slyly recognizes more than once to us, the movie is a heavily fictionalized version of the real-life story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and that did not bother me much during my viewing, and I cannot help but think of that famous line from John Ford’s classic film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962): “ When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” In my trivial opinion, the movie is not tasty enough to be enjoyed as a fiction, and I doubt whether it will be remembered long enough to become a legend.