Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Something has gone wrong with the landing gear of a plane en route from Madrid to Mexico City. The group of eccentric travelers on the flight, defenseless in the face of danger, indulge in colourful confessionals, while the outlandish crew attempts to find ways to entertain them.
Almodóvar's frothy, intentionally campy farce is a minor entry in his filmography. The confined airplane setting offers a clever conceit but the plotting is thin and episodic, relying on a series of confessional vignettes that vary in comic effectiveness. The performances are game and enthusiastic, leaning into broad farce with energy, though no single turn is particularly memorable. Cinematography is functional and stage-bound by design, lacking the lush visual invention of Almodóvar's better work. The film has some novelty as a deliberately lightweight, queer-tinged screwball comedy from an auteur known for melodrama, but it feels like a modest lark rather than a singular vision. The resolution is rushed and convenient, failing to pay off the accumulated tension in a satisfying way.