Blame It on Rio

1984 "She's the hottest thing on the beach. She's also his best friend's daughter!"
5.8| 1h40m| R| en| More Info
Released: 17 February 1984 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Matthew Hollis is man on holiday in Rio with his best friend. Both men have teenage daughters with them. When Matthew falls for his best friend's amorous daughter named Jennifer, they embark on a secret, if slightly one-sided relationship. Jennifer's father is furious when he finds out about the 'older man' in his daughter's life, and sets out to hunt him down with the aid of Matthew!

Genre

Comedy, Romance

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Director

Stanley Donen

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

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Blame It on Rio Audience Reviews

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.
ShangLuda Admirable film.
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
witster18 Super-mild spoilers(you'd get tenX as much from the trailer or packaging summary). The worst thing about this film is the opening and closing credits. One might stop there and say nothing else, but I feel an obligation to say more."Blame it On Rio" is a light-hearted, yet ultimately serious-enough adult sex-romp/love-triangle shot in Rio with decent performances. The storyline is definitely taboo, and imo, a big reason this film is rated so low. There's a solid script here and the film IS entertaining.The film tides-things-up rather nicely - no easy task! And the films' latter-half really has a few knockout jokes... extremely clever moments. A few extra twists add to the fun. I didn't know the ranking here until after I viewed the film. I was shocked. 5.7? Really? OK. Genuinely surprised as I enjoyed-it. It's definitely not pc, but that is so the point. This is pure 80's sex-romp at heart, only extremely well-written with above average performances all-around(it is a comedy after all).It doesn't all work. Some of it, a lot of it, is a little far-fetched(and improper -again, the point?) The cast and writing douses those fires quite a bit. There's one particular sequence in the middle of the film that is either a poorly executed short dream sequence, or a just a mistake/inconsistency in the story. You get a young Demi Moore in a smaller role, albeit her part is nice addition/dynamic to the overall storyline, and Michelle Johnson is just a knockout here. Absolutely an enjoyable, adult spin on the sub-genre. I laughed-out-loud a few times down the stretch, and I've seen my share of comedies rated over 5.7 that didn't make me do that, certainly with this much frequency. The cat and mouse tension is nicely executed. Eh, it doesn't surprise all that much, the score, but the film is better than 5.7 imo. I'd say more like 6.7/67/100.You might like this if you liked(or also ck out): 10(dudley Moore/about even or ever-so-slightly below), Woman In Red(not as good), or Oxford Blues(even or a smidge below). Soft 7. Good fun.
dfiscaletti8 Blame it on Rio was a different movie, to say the least. I think the movie industry was going crazy being the Hayes code was recently lifted so they were having fun with anything that would have violated it. The movie did not have much of a story at all, a basic she loves him he doesn't love her back idea, but there was no depth. It seemed to focus on sex and nudity. Although there was an overuse of showing topless women the art in the movie was beautiful. There were so many bright colors with intense detail; everything from the beach scenes to the kitchen in the house were so illustrated. I am not exactly sure where the film was shot, but wherever it was could definitely pass for Rio. I actually found the movie itself annoying though because Michelle was portrayed as an over emotional and naïve (some may call a typical teenage girl) and I did not like this. It is very unrealistic for an 18 year old to run around topless in front of her father and then have sex with his best friend who is also her best friend's father and a man she refers to as her uncle. Meanwhile Victor, Michelle's father had been sleeping with his best friend's wife, this is also very unrealistic. Even though the story line was a disappointment the actors did play their role very well and did not break character. I would not say this movie was particularly good, but the situation the characters were put in was somewhat interesting which is why I was able to make it through the entire movie. I would in no means recommend this unless it met some type of criteria for an assignment or research etc.
cs100 Before the internet, before late-night cable TV shows, before the VCR brought entertainment of all types into the privacy of American homes, there were movies like "10", "The Blue Lagoon", and "Blame it on Rio", whose chief attraction was the opportunity to glimpse beautiful women parade around in nothing or next to it. Nowadays, of course, much more explicit material can be found with the click of a mouse. But given that I had seen the first two of those three movies when they were initially released, but not the third, I decided to use the wonders of the internet to go back in time to see how "Blame it on Rio" would come across in the year 2011.The short answer: "Blame it on Rio" is slightly deeper (and longer) than an episode of "The Love Boat"; it's about on par, as far as psychologically based comedies go, with the Chicago-based version of "The Bob Newhart Show". So there are no insightful commentaries on the human condition contained within the storyline: the basic message, I would say, is that it is awfully hard to remain monogamous for the entire lifetime of a marriage. The storyline never quite degenerates into a farce, which would probably be an improvement, nor is it dramatic; it is sort of in between. Thus, the chief attraction, twenty-seven years later, remains the eye candy.There won't be enough eye candy to satisfy 21st century viewers seeking visual thrills; as I said there is much more explicit content on the internet which is more easily accessible. But for those who were of age in the 1980s, watching "Blame it in Rio" does offer some highlights, while bringing back memories of how entertainment used to be. The main highlights are Michelle Johnson, who gives what turns out to be the best performance of her career while at the peak of physical perfection of her young nubile self; and the gorgeous portrayal of the city of Rio de Janeiro in a more carefree, innocent time, before it became known more for crime and slums.The lines that Michelle Johnson has to utter are usually cringe-inducing, or that is they would be if the viewer was paying any attention at all to them, but fortunately she provides ample visual distraction, and for that her performance is to be applauded. She does a great job shedding her inhibitions. But surprisingly, in retrospect, the young female actress who went on to much more fame and fortune, and who is even now still on the cover of celebrity magazines, is Demi Moore. In "Blame it on Rio", Demi can't hold a candle next to Michelle Johnson's performance."Blame it on Rio" is recommended only for folks such as myself, who remember the impact it made at the time but didn't see it then. It is not a classic, or even as good a movie as Blake Edwards' "10".
James Hitchcock Why blame it on Rio? Blame it on the scriptwriters, who should have realised that a storyline about a teenage girl who goes on holiday to Rio de Janeiro and ends up having an affair with her father's best friend, a married man more then twice her age, would need to be handled sensitively if it were not to end up as little more than barely legal kiddie porn. Sensitivity, however, is a commodity in short supply in this silly sex comedy, which is just as trashy and exploitative as it sounds. Although it is ostensibly a comedy, wit and humour are nowhere in evidence either.Blame it on Stanley Donen. Donen was perhaps a director who hit his peak too soon, directing his greatest film "Singin' in the Rain" while still in his twenties. Although he made some other good musicals and comedies in the fifties and early sixties, he was left looking like a figure from the past by the decline of the Hollywood musical and the cinematic revolution of the late sixties and seventies. There were other directors around this time who were also left looking like dinosaurs, but most of them were a generation older than Donen who was only in his early forties when that revolution began. Although he is still alive more than a quarter of a century later, "Blame It on Rio" was to be his last film as both director and producer, and I doubt if it is the one he wants to be remembered by. (His penultimate offering, "Saturn Three", was pretty awful too).Blame it on Michael Caine. He has always had the ability, infuriating to those like me who admire for his best work, to move effortlessly from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again. Every film star, however eminent or talented, has at the back of their wardrobe what I think of as a "silver chalice" (after Paul Newman's disastrous screen debut, which he later publicly disowned). Sir Michael has a whole shelf full of silver chalices on public display. Which explains why he is the star not only of fine movies like "Alfie", "Get Carter" and "Hannah and her Sisters" but also of "The Swarm" and "Blame It on Rio". Here he plays Matthew, the middle-aged businessman who ends up being seduced by the amorous and hormonally overactive Jennifer. The only explanation for this bizarre choice of role is that, after all the hard work he had put in on "Educating Rita" and "The Honorary Consul" (two more of his best films), he felt that he was in need of some rest and relaxation, and could think of nothing more restful and relaxing than spending time with a beautiful near-naked teenage starlet in the tropical sunshine. Donen borrows the device used by Lewis Gilbert in "Alfie" of having Caine speak direct to camera, but that is about all the two films have in common. In terms of quality they are miles apart.Blame it on Joseph Bologna, who plays Jennifer's father Victor. Certainly, any character who takes as obsessive an interest in his daughter's love life as Victor does in Jennifer's is bound to seem somewhat creepy, but Bologna makes Victor creepier than he need be. His fury on discovering that Jennifer has an older lover seems less like parental over-protectiveness than like jealousy.Blame it on the lovely Michelle Johnson as Jennifer. Blessed with the angelic looks of a Brooke Shields (albeit with a more voluptuous figure than Brooke's slim, boyish one), Michelle was, before the film came out, hotly tipped for stardom. After it came out, she wasn't. Although she was happy to display her charms to the world, modesty obviously compelled her to keep her acting talents well hidden. The film also introduced another lovely young actress, Demi Moore who plays Nikki, Matthew's daughter and Jennifer's best friend. Demi, however, survived the wreck of this film much better than Michelle, probably because hers was only a minor role, and did indeed go on to become a major star.Blame it on the director, the producer, the scriptwriters, the actors. Blame it on whoever wrote that irritating theme song. Blame it on anyone who had anything to do with this lousy movie. But don't blame it on Rio. Why should the blameless citizens of that fair city be held responsible for the crimes against art and good taste which are committed in their name? 3/10