Customer Reviews

Blame it on Rio (Widescreen)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This movie portrays Brazilian in kind of a peculiar way, but I won't even go there, despite the fact that I could go on about some things that were misrepresented about Brazilians. Overall the move was cute and pretty decent. If you love light hearted romantic comedies from the 1980's, then you'll really dig this. It's the perfect movie to pop in whenever you are in the mood for something light and reminiscent of the 80's, a decade when things were fun and full of spirit. One surprising thing about this movie is that the music in it is pretty nice. It's very reflective of the era, so compard to today's Brazilian music it might sound a little cheezy, but I thought it was pretty refreshing. This movie also serves as a good introduction to what Rio de Janeiro ("hee-ew-gee-ja-nay-ru") looks like.

I saw this movie when it first came out back in 1984, and it has always stuck in my mind as a very fun movie. The movie opens with two middle-aged men, both of whom are going through difficult marriages. One (Joseph Bologna) is getting a divorce and the other (Michael Caine) finds his marriage on the rocks. They travel to Rio on a vacation with their teenage daughters, but without their wives, in order to forget about their marital troubles. Because the daughters replace the wives on this vacation, it creates a vaguely incestous tension. In one of the movie's early scenes, Bologna's daughter (Michelle Johnson) and Caine's daughter (Demi Moore) are bare breasted as they walk up to their fathers on the beach. Moore seems somewhat shy as her hair mostly covers her chest, but Johnson is clearly very confident and proud of her breasts. Her father asks her to cover her breasts and she refuses. Though the direct incestous tension between father and daughter doesn't go any further than this, the sexuality definitely builds between Johnson and dad's friend Caine to the point where they are soon having an affair.

The affair creates a series of situations that are downright hilarious, and many scenes had me rolling on the floor laughing. For the guys in the audience, Michelle Johnson is definitely gorgeous and we get to--well--see a lot of her, and she seems very comfortable and happy with her nudity. Demi Moore plays a more minor role both in terms of nudity and in terms of her character. The movie is not intended to make any grand in-depth statement, and is probably not very accurate about Brazil, but if you want a light-hearted, sexy comedy it would be hard to do much better.

On a personal note, this movie was something of a rite of passage for me because it was, I believe, the first movie showing adult nudity that I ever saw on the big screen. I still thought of myself as a bit of a kid at the time, and I thought of topless and nude scenes as something that adults (i.e. people a lot older than me) did. I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Michelle Johnson was exactly the same age as me (we were both born in Sept 1965). I came to the conclusion that if an actress my age were doing topless scenes, I must have reached adulthood myself.

The movie is a hilarious comedy without considering the nude scenes--since it is a sex comedy set on and around Rio's topless beaches, the nudity tends to fit right in. And because it is set in Rio (where 'the play gets done') the viewer is allowed to relax and take a vacation for a couple of hours, even if the characters aren't always relaxed in their antics. All in all, you won't find any deep statements about the world here, but it is a really fun movie.

I wrote a 4-star review of the VHS version of this movie on 11/22/00. Later I bought the DVD version. The DVD was much darker. Some of the night scenes were almost completely black. This was annoying and made the DVD useless to me. It made no sense to me why they did this. The VHS version is great!

"Blame it on Rio" is a cute and funny film which manages to be a wish-fulfilment fantasy for middle-aged men, and tell a good story at the same time.

Michael Cane is perfect as the man in a doubful marriage, who is hit on suddenly by his best friend's daughter, Jennifer, played by the voluptous and pretty Michelle Johnson.

Of course that is a doubtful proposition, since he is over twice her age (Michelle was only eighteen when she played this), and since he is vacationing not only with her, but with her father, who is his best friend, and with his own daughter, who is her best friend!

The story is funny and entertaining, and Jennifer is dead sexy. I find it hard to imagine resisting if she threw herself at you.

It must be said that beautiful Demi Moore is underused as Nikki, the best friend. Especially in the underdressed scenes, too little of that. I suspect she was having ego problems against Michelle's bigger bosom. This would explain why she later got a boob job, as seen in (the underrated) Striptease. Very dumb move, in my opinion. She was perfect.

Title: "Blame It On Rio"
Released: 1984
Rated: R
Running Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Directed by: Stanley Donen
Starring: Michael Caine (Matthew Hollins), Joseph Bologna (Victor Lyons), Michelle Johnson (Jennifer Lyons), Demi Moore (Nicole Hollins), Valerie Harper (Karen Hollins)

Funny, pleasant remake of the 1977 French film "One Wild Moment", stars Caine as middle-aged father figure coping with recent crises in his marriage to Harper while vacationing in Rio de Janeiro with his daughter (Moore) and best friend (Bologna). Former model Johnson plays Bologna's teen daughter who also is along for the trip.
Set against the backdrop of near tropical paradise Rio, this movie follows the affair that devlops between Caine and the much younger Johnson after she seduces him. Caine then spends the rest of the film trying to break it off with the sexy Johnson while attempting to build up nerve to tell the temperamental Bologna before the secret is revealed.
Caine gives a typically great performance while Johnson, who's acting abilities are limited, more than makes up for her presence by her numerous nude scenes. Bologna is good as the playboy father who just happens to be going through a divorce himself. Moore has a limited role and it is obvious from her semi-topless scene on the beach that she had a long way to go before becoming comfortable with these kinds of scenes (i.e. "Striptease"). Harper has relatively few scenes but gives a good performance as Caine's strong minded wife.
This movie was produced and directed by Stanley Donen of "Singin' In The Rain" fame. It was shot on location in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and features a decent soundtrack as well as a catchy (though not overly great) title tune. The movie is partially narrated by Caine and Johnson a la the narration style in "When Harry Met Sally".
I would recommend this film for those wanting a pleasant diversion for a couple of hours. Caine fans will also enjoy it as will those wishing to see Johnson bare it all.

Please do not waste your time watching this almost offensive, horribly acted movie. To see this movie with this many stars is also a cruel joke for those who may consider the movie. Picture quality is okay, a little dull or washed out?? who cares, why waste our time by releasing it anyways...and the sound is 2.0 mono. The studio did not put much effort into this DVD at all, and now that I have seen it, I understand why. Total Trash!!

This is one of the best movies ever! Just a lot of fun and I think the music is great! As a matter of fact, I have been trying to find a copy of the soundtrack. Don't put too much into it - just enjoy the scenery, music and comedy. I have watched this movie a million times and could watch it a million more times.

Gorgeous cinematography, great samba-tinged soundtrack, a hilarious script, and a wonderful cast make this a very enjoyable film. It remains as fresh, warm, and funny as it was when it was first released. Michael Caine's comic timing is, as always, dead on, Michelle Johnson conveys both innocence and teenage hormone-psychosis perfectly, and Joseph Bologna and Valerie Harper are the right combination of buffoonery and bitterness. I think the irreverence and intelligence of the film shows through in the smallest details: the advice of the umbanda woman, the uncommunicative maid, the camera-happy Japanese tourist, the very English Peter and Elaine, etc. With a less sensitive, less intelligent script, this could have been a tawdry tale of illicit love, but instead it is a delicately-crafted farce which perfectly captures the hedonism and sensuality of a cidade maravilhosa, Rio de Janeiro.

This movie showcases Rio brilliantly much in the same way that "Bossa Nova" does, but will have to have say that "Bossa Nova" had better music and cinematography. Two Westerners (one Brit, one American) who live and work in Sao Paulo decide to take a month's holiday in Rio with their daughters. During the course of one month two affairs are revealed, you see Demi Moore topless, and you get to see beautiful scenery with a soundtrack that belongs in a late 1970's t.v. movie. The theme song especially made my skin crawl, for better understanding think of a tropical paradise with music in the genre of "Afternoon Delight" and "If I Had a Hammer." Slow-paced at times (it's 1 hour, 40 minutes) and 1/2 hour of that could have been left on the cutting room floor. Michael Caine's performance stands out, but of course a winning performance by Michelle Johnson is also noteworthy. This is a cute movie, but would have been made better by better choices of music (why not feature more of the native Brazilian music? They only use 2 songs, and only briefly.), cinematography (beautiful visuals, but grainy at times), and better editing. Save this for cable.

This movie showcases Rio brilliantly much in the same way that "Bossa Nova" does, but will have to have say that "Bossa Nova" had better music and cinematography. Two Westerners (one Brit, one American) who live and work in Sao Paulo decide to take a month's holiday in Rio with their daughters. During the course of one month two affairs are revealed, you see Demi Moore topless, and you get to see beautiful scenery with a soundtrack that belongs in a late 1970's t.v. movie. The theme song especially made my skin crawl, for better understanding think of a tropical paradise with music in the genre of "Afternoon Delight" and "If I Had a Hammer." Slow-paced at times (it's 1 hour, 40 minutes) and 1/2 hour of that could have been left on the cutting room floor. Michael Caine's performance stands out, but of course a winning performance by Michelle Johnson is also noteworthy. This is a cute movie, but would have been made better by better choices of music (why not feature more of the native Brazilian music? They only use 2 songs, and only briefly.), cinematography (beautiful visuals, but grainy at times), and better editing. Save this for cable.