Uplifting ‘Flamin’ Hot’ Showcases An Immigrant’s Heroic Journey, But Is It True?

Remember the pivotal sequence in Best Picture winner “Argo” where the main characters are detained at an Iranian airport, fearing for their lives?

It never happened.

What about the events leading up to Queen’s legendary performance at Live Aid in 1985, dramatized in the Oscar-winning film “Bohemian Rhapsody?”

Once again, pure movie fiction.

Now we have “Flamin’ Hot,” an uplifting dramedy about a Mexican immigrant inventing a chip that changed the snack landscape. Spoiler alert: The allegedly fact-based story is a lie.

Movies “based on a true story” often embellish the truth to make the narrative sizzle. It’s creative license, but that “based on a true story” skeleton remains intact. The Apollo 13 spacecraft did endure technical issues but the crew returned to earth safely, just like in the Tom Hanks movie “Apollo 13” from 1995.

Audiences know to expect some changes along the way in fact-based stories, assuming the thrust of the tale remains accurate. It’s the unwritten pack between consumer and film studio. Imagine their surprise when they see “Flamin’ Hot” and fire up their favorite mobile search app on the way home.

The film follows Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez, a Frito-Lay janitor who aspires to a better life for himself and his family. He toils away for years at the plant, all the while mulling ways to climb the corporate ladder.

He finally hits on the solution. He creates a spicy variation on the Cheetos chip that not only became a sales sensation but impacted other chip lines as well. Plus, it taps into the Latino community, a demographic too often ignored by marketers.

Now, he’ll have to convince his superiors to give his idea a chance.

Montañez, a Mexican immigrant, endured sizable bigotry along the way as well as persona foibles, according to the film. His father, “Flamin’ Hot” suggests, hardly supported his ambitions.

He persevered and became yet another all-American success story. Fade to black.

Not so fast.

The Los Angeles Times investigated Montañez’s claims, captured in his 2013 memoir, “A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie,” that he invented the signature chip. The liberal newspaper determined in 2021 that the story had no merit, a fact backed up by Frito-Lay.

There’s just one problem: Montañez apparently didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, according to interviews with more than a dozen former Frito-Lay employees, the archival record and Frito-Lay itself.

The story’s blunt headline said it all: “The Man Who Didn’t Invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

“Flamin’ Hot” director Eva Longoria became attached to the project in 2019, likely unaware of the truth behind Montañez’s claims. The LA Times piece dropped two years before the film’s national release and months before production began on the film.

Team Longoria kept the story essentially as is, massaging the discrepancy in press interviews tied to the film.

This isn’t the only time Hollywood told a whopper of a tale and insisted it was true. The 2021 Showtime miniseries “The Comey Rule” broke down the FBI’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s Russian collusion scheme.

We all know that’s the Mother of All Fake News stories now, but the film went into production after the Mueller Report failed to prove Trump’s alleged ties to Russian interference.

Ironically, the film’s director Billy Ray will be tackling another ripped-from-the-headlines story, the January 6 riots, for his next project. Trust its contents at your own peril.

Disgraced CBS anchor Dan Rather ironically got the “fake but accurate” treatment via “Truth,” the 2015 Robert Redford film suggesting he had the story of future President George W. Bush’s military service dead to rights despite all evidence to the contrary.

So, “Flamin’ Hot” isn’t exactly new by Hollywood standards. The press should do a better job of being up front on the matter, though, and pressing Longoria for her decision to keep the Fake But Accurate story alive.

There’s an ironic twist to the “Flamin’ Hot” debate. More than one, actually.

The story of a savvy immigrant who gamed the system to make everyone think he invented the chip in question would make a great satirical film.

Plus, Longoria is one of Hollywood’s most progressive stars. She proves it by including a factually wobbly swipe at President Ronald Reagan’s economic record smack dab in the middle of “Flamin’ Hot.” And her story suggests Montañez faced extreme bigotry at nearly every step of the way in the grand “victimhood” tradition.

That’s likely true but on a much smaller scale than depicted.

Yet “Flamin’ Hot” is a deeply conservative movie at its core. The film’s hero refuses to become a victim, knowing he has a beautiful family he can’t provide for if he runs afoul of the law.

He doesn’t give up nor blame his lot in life. He works hard, and then harder, to make his career finally pop. He never stops innovating, his faith in the American dream always top of mind.

Hard work. Perseverance. A dollop of faith. They all add up to a story that heartland viewers could adore.

Bravo, “Desperate Housewives” alum. You’ve made one of the year’s most conservative films, and all you had to do is twist the truth into a pretzel to make it happen.

Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto. 

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.