Blame It on Rio
by Stanley Donen
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Actor: Demi Moore, Joseph Bologna, Michael Caine, Michelle Johnson, Valerie HarperDirector: Stanley Donen
Brand: CAINE,MICHAEL
Cinematographer: Reynaldo Villalobos
Producer: Stanley Donen
Producer: Bruce McNall
Producer: Larry Gelbart
Writer: Larry Gelbart
Producer: Robert E. Relyea
Writer: Charlie Peters
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
Published: 2001-05-01
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Blame It on Rio
DVD Review: An '80s-Style Kiss to Lust and Bliss
Summary: 3 Stars
I love when the amateur psychoanalysts run amok because of a harmless little film such as Blame It on Rio. It is a comedy, for Cristo's sake. To be more precise, Blame It on Rio is a farce. Blame It on Rio is not supposed to be about the Electra complex gone awry in Rio de Janeiro. This film has something more in common with Carmen Electra, if you know what I mean. The point is, there simply isn't any room here for overanalyzing in an academic way. Copacabana Beach and all of those thongs are simply too crowded for that caliber of intellectualism, folks.
Watching the Blame It on Rio DVD, I am instantly transported to the early 1980s, when having sex with strangers was still considered a thrilling dare and not necessarily a death sentence. (Before the film was released, the message of the AIDS pandemic had not yet shocked the world.) At the time, Demi Moore, who was a better actress than Michelle Johnson -- hands and bras down -- in Blame It on Rio, was an unknown. The following year, Moore and the charismatic Jon Cryer made No Small Affair and both of their careers exploded like Malcolm McLaren's "Eiffel Tower" song on the movie's cool soundtrack. Hollywood may have only taken a budding interest in Moore when she modestly bared her bosom in Blame It on Rio, but it later gave her lots of support for films she made a decade afterward, such as Indecent Proposal and Striptease.
Reviewers here on Amazon.com who have blasted the music in Blame It on Rio, in the wrong way, will not be spared my wrath. When Blame It on Rio first came out, MTV was in its infancy and "lady" Madonna was offending the Vatican with her hit song and video, "Like A Virgin." Thanks to her charming displays and those of Prince and his protegees Vanity 6, lingerie sales were soaring a (I can't help it) mile high. Can anyone spell S-K-I-N? This was the body-beautiful '80s. Forget about the good and bad perms, Jheri curls and mullets, which all were the (out)rage. Derrieres were squeezing themselves into Lycra-Spandex, and ladies were giving the hot shoulder in asymmetrically slouching, torn sweatshirts inspired by a film about a frustrated go-go dancer (Flashdance). In such a "Solid Gold" world, nearly every body-conscious human seemed consumed by lust -- especially the kind between the lyrics and the rhythms of every synthesized-to-the-hilt record. Yes, vinyl was still king.
From that aerobicizing mind-set came the American-from-French farce Blame It on Rio. In the film, there are plenty of neo-disco sounds as well as music from soundalikes of 1980s pop icons such as Michael Jackson, El DeBarge and the dynamic duo of Johnny Mathis-Deniece Williams. If you don't believe me regarding the latter, just listen to the theme "Blame It on Rio," and if you can't recall the theme from the hit show "Family Ties," you're too young to be watching Blame It on Rio, anyway. And, hey, with the sound clarity of DVD engineering, you can enjoy the synth-pop until your head explodes like the android in Alien.
Amid all the fun in Blame It on Rio, there's a heaping plate of sensuality. Much of Brazil's homegrown music and dance is well-represented in the film. Beautiful bossa nova is injected into several memorable scenes: upon the travelers' descent into Rio as the city's sublime landscape unfolds and at a nightclub where a sultry songstress sways to a lilting number while the two middle-aged characters slide further into the alluring prospect of so-many-women-in-so-little-time. While the two fathers are strolling on the beach, bragging (Bologna as "Victor") and arguing (Caine as "Matthew") about scoring -- fast-tempo Afro-Brazilian rhythms compete with the characters' midlife-critical, anxiety-ridden dialogue. In this reviewer's opinion, that is pure comedy because despite all the sensual rhythms, bountiful ocean and topless, bikini-waxed babes surrounding them, these dudes are too stiff to go with the flow of life.
I'm surprised that so many reviewers totally overlooked the intentional harmony of music and choreography in this film. Renowned director Stanley Donen was at the helm of Blame It on Rio, after all. View the film again with a critic's eye, and this time pay attention to the beginning of the film, in the first beach scene. There's a Brazilian song playing, and you see two musicians in swimming trunks who are performing that song -- and so are other musicians on the beach. In fact, almost everyone who's upright on the beach is dancing to that song. What about the amazing performance of capoeira in the open square? I'm referring to the scene in which a guilt-laden and fearful Matthew tries to rid himself of Jennifer (Michelle Johnson) and pass her onto a randy local guy closer to her age. And let's not forget the wonderful dancing and chanting of the Candomble religion at the nighttime wedding reception on the beach. How's all that for Donen magic at work?! It's called choreographic direction, and it's fabulous!
You'll miss the commentary that Blame It on Rio makes about Americans and Brits if you can't get past close-ups of bare breasts. The title is a strong clue that this movie is tongue-in-cheek, that there will be non-Brazilian characters in the movie who'll act zany and hypersexual (this they do) because they're not only far away from home and having marital trouble, but also they're in a city where they believe they're supposed to act irresponsibly. As part of the chorus of the title song goes: "What if we're acting like fools/What do we do?/What do we care?/Blame it on Rio."
The sexcomedy Blame It on Rio is a vibrant, passionate tribute to human lust -- and a snicker at most of the flaws that accompany it. Like the neon fuschia shade of lipstick I thickly applied throughout the 1980s, this farce is a tantalizing, full-lipped kiss to a footloose decade that will never be repeated again. Get it on DVD because the videos aren't of the best quality.
Description of Blame It on Rio
No Description Available.Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-FEB-2007
Media Type: DVD
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