Critic Reviews

• Ben Walters, Time Out

  With its sprawling satire and knockabout tone, 'I'm So Excited' is the closest Almodóvar has come in years to early romps like 'Labyrinth', 'Pepi, Luci, Bom' and 'What Have I Done to Deserve This?'

• Kirk Honeycutt, honeycuttshollywood.com

  The naughty gags fall flat and actors flail away in an unsuccessful search for laughs.

• Katie Walsh, The Playlist

  While there's drugs and sex and drinking and dancing, for sure, if one looks at I'm So Excited as a metaphor for the ills of society today and how we react to it, it becomes a much more poignant and biting satire of the state of our world...

• Nicolas Rapold, Film Comment Magazine

  The image of a plane in a holding pattern feels all too apt for the film's conceits and characters, which never quite land.

• Fr. Chris Carpenter, Movie Dearest

  Pedro Almodovar's slight but delightful return to early, campy form. It may well turn out to be the most deliriously funny movie for adults, and definitely the gayest, to come out this summer.

• Eric Kohn, indieWIRE

  Scene after scene features a self-satisfied kookiness akin to spending time with a terrible comic unwilling to give up the mic.

• Ryan Gilbey, New Statesman

  The elements of silly and sombre occasionally cancel out one another, leaving the film suspended in the same limbo as its characters.

• Michael Bonner, Uncut Magazine [UK]

  A minor - but exuberantly funny - piece from the Spanish master.

• Jason Best, Movie Talk

  Cruising at a stratospheric altitude of high camp, Pedro Almodóvar's I'm So Excited is a colourful aerial romp that recasts his native Spain's current economic woes as frantic farce... Sadly, it just isn't very funny.

• Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

  It's broad, bawdy stuff, and more than a little retro too, to the point where the luggage isn't the only thing that feels Carry On ...

• Siobhan Synnot, Scotsman

  Almodóvar has made his country a little cocktail which toasts their woes, yet manages to make things seem a little brighter too.

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  I'm So Excited! is a slight, likable movie, beautifully designed and charmingly performed.

• Donald Clarke, Irish Times

  For all the high intentions, I'm So Excited comes across as minor Almodóvar. There are, of course, far worse things than that.

• Graham Young, Birmingham Mail

  To help prevent a riot, the economy passengers are sent to the land of nod. So much for the idea of finding your inner self at moments of great danger!

• Rich Cline, Contactmusic.com

  Fans of more recent Almodovar films like The Skin I Live In or Volver should be warned about this one, because it harks back to his much cheesier 1980s films with its broad comedy, lurid production values and camp characters.

• Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph

  This feels like a film Almodóvar had to get out of his system - a kind of cinematic kidney stone - and your gut will twinge in sympathy.

• James Mottram, Total Film

  Full of fizz, filth and fun, I'm So Excited! is like an '80s retro-blast. Its scattershot comedy may not impress latecomers to Almodóvar's career, but old-school fans will love it.

• David Sexton, This is London

  In a more or less wholly libertarian society of the kind we now have in the West, the very idea of camping it up like this seems unnecessary, therefore tiresome.

• MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

  The things that qualify as 'awesome' in the world of Pedro Almodóvar boggle my mind.

• Michael Leader, Film4

  Almodovar gleefully returns to the broad, colourful burlesque of his early work. Although, without the transgressive attitude and closeted context, this sexy satire is all froth and no balls.

Read all 21 critic reviews