Blame It on Rio

You read a plot synopsis for Blame It on Rio and immediately you think that this just has to be a terrible movie. And besides being terrible it's also going to be downright uncomfortable to watch as the story centers around some wildly inappropriate behavior. They'd never make a movie like this today you think and thank goodness for that. Yes, those would probably be your thoughts before you watch this movie. But then you watch it and it's actually not that bad. Yes there is that uneasy feeling throughout due to the fact that the subject matter is more than a little icky. But the movie is entertaining. It's light-hearted fun. In fact you could even call it charming if not for the fact that there's nothing particularly charming about a middle-aged man having sex with his best friend's teenage daughter.

So our story is about this exceedingly inappropriate relationship. And the movie plays it for laughs. And it works? Ah, the 1980s. A very different world from today that's for sure. Blame It on Rio is never uproariously funny but there are enough good comic moments sprinkled throughout to keep things moving along nicely. In playing Matthew, the man who can't resist the charms of the teenage temptress, it is Michael Caine who really holds the movie together. An awkward character to play no doubt and Caine makes it work. From the moment we meet him, even before his wild fling, Matthew never seems entirely comfortable in his own skin. Preying on that awkwardness is his own personal Lolita. She goes by the name of Jennifer and is played by Michelle Johnson for whom comfort in her own skin was apparently not an issue. Yowzers! Easy to see how it would be difficult for any man to resist her feminine charms. But Matthew, you're forty-something, she's a teenager, and she's your best friend's daughter! This can't happen! But it does and...hilarity ensues? Yeah you wouldn't think this is a particularly comedic situation but that's the direction in which this movie goes and somehow it kind of works.

It's hard to fully embrace the movie as none of the main characters come off particularly well. The Matthew-Jennifer relationship is not the only inappropriate thing going on here, not by a long shot. You'd think Jennifer's father, what with his best friend sleeping with his nubile daughter, would be the sympathetic character. But, as portrayed by Joseph Bologna, he's a sleaze too. Who in this movie isn't? Well, there's Matthew's daughter Nicole. Demi Moore plays the role and it's a smaller part compared to Caine, Johnson and Bologna. But if you sympathize with anyone it's her. She has an innocence about her. All the adults in this movie have lost their innocence long ago. And her friend Jennifer can't wait to lose hers...with Nicole's father no less. Poor Nicole. She even has to suffer in comparison standing next to the voluptuous Jennifer on one of Rio's famous topless beaches. At this point in her life Demi Moore had not yet embraced the wonders of surgical enhancement and that leaves Nicole bashful, trying to cover up her modest assets with her long hair. Jennifer? She's not bashful. But somehow she's still sweet and charming. And there's still a vulnerability and touch of innocence to her even as she's taking off her clothes and seducing a middle-aged man. It's hard to figure. The story shouldn't work, the movie shouldn't work, we really shouldn't be finding any of this funny. But somehow the end result isn't that bad at all. Go into this movie with low expectations and you may well be pleasantly surprised.

At the risk of ruining my credibility, I proudly declare this as one of my favorite movies. Nobody in their right mind would ever even contemplate a movie like this now, I know. In truth, I'm always shocked it was made at all. It's subject matter beyond the pale of even the low-life studio execs who make the big decisions. The most important and amazing consideration is it was intended as mainstream release. Its not a Troma shclock job. Its a very well made, extremely well written film about a very naughty topic. Consider it a blooper, an accident, if you will, but its great. Quick synopsis, a middle aged dude messes around and falls in love with his best friends 18 year old daughter. And its not exactly tastefully told. There's a ton of gratuitous nudity which is what really dooms it, and makes it just the sort of oddity and pariah people so love to hate. I'm old now, but when i fell in love with it I was like 19 so wipe the perverted sanctimonious smirk off of your face! I like good comedy and well made on location vacation pics, that inspire me to travel. So it's the Peters-Gelbart script and the wonderful scenery that have won it a place in my cold heart. Ok, ok, topless 18 year old girls are a decided bonus.

Stanley Donen directed many wonderful films from 1949 through the 1960s. But his career became very scattershot after the production code fell, and his big screen career came to a lamentable end with Blame It on Rio (1984). Although he later directed a nice little TV movie for ABC in 1999

The film is billed as a comedy, but its grim. Michael Caine stars as a man in the midst of a midlife crisis who, perhaps under the spell of a trip to sultry Rio, embarks on a brief affair with the nymphet daughter (Michelle Johnson) of his best friend (Joseph Bologna). The actors look embarrassed and stricken (this extends to Valerie Harper and Demi Moore as well), the script isn't funny (no laughs in this film, only one gag that produced a tiny smirk), the photography is flat, and the end result is very dour and unappealing.

But the worst mistake of all in the film is including a luscious black-and-white clip of the wing walking "Rio by the Sea-o" production number from 1933's Flying Down to Rio. The brief scene shows the studio system at its height, with true wonder and fascination. It leaves one lamenting the film around the clip all the more.

This film couldn't have been made at any other period of time than that tumultuous, garishly colored, love affair with dubious, cheesy excess known as the 1980's. At any other period of time, this movie would simply be overlooked as a horrid piece of meaningless crap. But not in the 80's, oh no. As a fine work of pure cheese, in the decade of cheese, this film is a sort of masterwork. Everything about this film is total cheese: the acting, the writing, the directing, and cheesiest of all, the music. Has a movie ever had a more grating theme than this movie? It even trumps "I Had The Time Of My Life" and "She's Like The Wind" from Dirty Dancing, which is no small accomplishment. And not only that, but the song is repeated several times throughout the movie. And oh, what else is there? Michael Caine's horrible hair, enormous glasses, and that whacky blue underwear he wears. And Joseph Bologna's insane overacting! Demi Moore's insane attempts at acting! And Michelle Johnson's ample nudity, ample bosom, and insane attempts at being seductive! One could charitably call this film an awkward misfire, but if you're up for it, it's a fine helping of cheese, and a good reminder that as bad as movies can be now, the 80's were the true decade of crap! Crap would never again be as hilariously crappy as it was in the 1980's, and Blame It On Rio is the king of 80's crap!

It's a travelogue/sex-comedy with great photography of Rio, funny jokes and a pleasing early eighties feel. All the typical aspects of life in Brazil are shown like Carnival, native gods/religion, topless sunbathers, street dancers, the monolith dome with Jesus on top etc. There are a lot of funny lines that will keep you entertained and Michael Caine delivers them well. The soundtrack has a lot of bossa nova strains (composed by Ken Wannberg) and adds to the sexy, lighthearted mood.