The Asian chili sauce, we learn, is truly international — and truly American.

The film follows the rise of Huy Fong Foods and its founder, David Tran, a Vietnamese refugee who found fortune in America with his version of a sauce whose roots lie in a coastal town in Thailand. (That town, appropriately, is named Si Racha.)

Last year, Huy Fong sold more than $60 million worth of sauce, The Los Angeles Times has reported. And as Hammond's film notes, the company's revenues grow about 20 percent a year, all without any advertising.

That explosive growth has been driven by fans who at times can exhibit a cult-like devotion to the rooster sauce, and they get their fair share of screen time. Also plentiful are the factoids — for example, that bird that adorns every bottle? It's a nod to the fact that Tran was born in the Chinese year of the rooster. What does seem to be missing from Hammond's film, as L.V. Anderson laments over at Slate, is a less-than-raphsodic view of the sauce.

Of course, such quibbles are unlikely to deter die-hard Sriracha lovers from watching Hammond's film. After all, if you're the type to snatch up Sriracha-flavored lip balm or have ever felt tempted to tattoo that rooster label on your leg, then why not shell out the five bucks it costs to stream this movie ode to your savory beloved on your screen?

Copyright 2013 NPR.

David TranDavid Tran

Sriracha: First, The Crisis. Now, The Movie