Blame It on Rio, 1984.
Directed by Stanley Donen.
Starring Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, Michelle Johnson, Demi Moore, Valerie Harper and José Lewgoy.
SYNOPSIS:
A married middle-aged man begins an affair with his best friend’s teenage daughter whilst on holiday in Rio.
Michael Caine is an unusual choice for a romantic lead but Blame It on Rio is not a romantic film. It pretends to be one – and one of the main characters would probably believe it to be, given her immaturity when it comes to relationships – but it isn’t romantic; it’s dirty, seedy and, by modern standards at least, a little bit wrong. However, it is also great fun and, if you are of a certain age, more than likely your entry into the grown up world of sex comedies as the film features boobs, boobs and more boobs, with Michael Caine getting an eyeful of most of them like the put-upon lead in a 1970s sit-com.
Caine plays Matthew Hollis, a middle-aged married man who is going on holiday to Rio with his wife Karen (Valerie Harper) in a last-ditch attempt to save their lifeless marriage. Going with them is their teenage daughter Nikki (Demi Moore), Matthew’s best friend Victor (Joseph Bologna) and his daughter Jennifer (Michelle Johnson) but at the last-minute Karen decides to holiday elsewhere on her own and leaves the two fathers and their daughters to go without her, and so without a wife to worry about Matthew and the separated Victor head out to party.
But while Victor is like a kid in a candy shop and manages to pull on the first night, Matthew takes things easier and ends up at a local wedding with the two girls, but when the party mood kicks in Jennifer makes a move on the older man and so begins an affair that Matthew knows is wrong but Jennifer is so beautiful and she loves him. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever and Victor does have a temper…
In truth, Blame It on Rio is a silly film and one that Caine was clearly doing for a free trip to Rio to ogle some tits and get a paycheck, and, quite honestly, who can blame him? Let’s not forget, he went on to make Jaws: The Revenge three years later for pretty much the same reasons (although that film was full of tits of a different kind and it was the Bahamas, but the principle is the same) and it was a pretty lean period in his career so we can forgive him that. Nevertheless, he is great to watch in this film as he tries to behave like a responsible adult in front of Joseph Bologna but is secretly sneaking from room to room to engage in a bit of filthy fun with Michelle Johnson.
And if there is any image sacred to teenage boys of the 1980s then it is the sight of a topless Michelle Johnson and Demi Moore on a Rio beach trying to blend in with the locals while their on-screen fathers try not to get angry (and try to hide the fact they weren’t eyeing up said locals). Although Demi Moore is surprisingly coy in her scenes – surprising considering her role in Striptease a few years later – Michelle Johnson is all too eager to show us what would entice an unhappily married man over 20 years her senior (Matthew is 43 while Jennifer is 17) away from his distant wife, and while Caine demonstrates his knack for delivering a comic line whilst trying to keep a British stiff upper lip with commendable discomfort, Michelle Johnson cannot act her way out of her bikini. But she doesn’t have to, as it is Caine and Joseph Bologna who carry the film with their amusing dialogues and bordering-on-slapstick physical performances.
If you believe in the concept of a guilty pleasure then Blame It on Rio is a contender for defining the idea; you shouldn’t like it – you should be disgusted by it and ashamed for feeling sympathy for the dirty old fool – but like it you probably will. Just remember – Michelle Johnson was just 17 when she made this film and had to get permission from her parents to perform her nude scenes, and Michael Caine was 50 and getting paid very handsomely to appear in said nude scenes alongside her. It just wouldn’t get made nowadays and that, possibly more than Michelle Johnson’s bouncing breasts (but probably not), is the film’s greatest appeal.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=8k_v0cVxqEY
Originally published August 10, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
