Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The uncomfortable premise of this mid-'80s sex farce sees middle-aged married man Matthew Hollis (Michael Caine) succumbing to the advances of his best friend's infatuated teenage daughter Jennifer (Michelle Johnson), blaming his scandalous actions on Rio's impulsive atmosphere. This rather tasteless plot, which also sees Matthew's wife Karen (Valerie Harper) conducting an affair with Jennifer's father Victor (Joseph Bologna), allows for lots of broad comedy, with Caine's character squirming awkwardly as he desperately tries to pretend that nothing untoward has occurred. It's reasonably funny to watch, but wildly inappropriate, making the film something of a guilty pleasure, even more so given that its young but well-developed star, Johnson, happily flaunts her naked body at every opportunity.Those who opt to fly down to Rio with Caine and Co. will also be treated to an early appearance from Demi Moore as Matthew's daughter Nicole, who also briefly goes topless, and the unforgettable sight of Michael Caine's incredibly massive spectacles (blame THEM on the '80s!).

I really don't connect with this film. I saw it during my raging hormone years, and back then it was a cheap thrill. Watching it now with a more mature mind I can't really see the attraction. I guess if you get married young, are a middle-aged male whose been married to the same person for a number of years, you may have felt you've missed out on life somewhere along the line. For any males viewing this, guess what, you haven't.To me this seems like a Shakespearean kind of play with a happy ending, in that no one dies or gets burned at the end in spite of all of the bed hopping. Still, not really my kind of film. The characters are a little one dimensional in a sex comic kind of way, but it is an entertaining watch all the same for what it is.The young girl with stars in her eyes finds herself attracted to an older man. Not really a match made in heaven, and repercussions resound. All in all kind of a strange film for what it is, really. Kind of light hearted in tone, but I can't imagine real people being as forgiving. In that way it seems rather, well, just crazy.But, like I say, at least the theme song is okay. Well shot, respectably acted, if you're a divorcée, then this might or might not help you get through the night.See it once.

I should rate this higher than I did. The mainstream critics have bashed it like it was written and directed by the devil himself. The main idea of an 18 year old daughter seducing her Dad's best friend (practically in front of HIS daughter) while on a family vacation, is clearly creepy. But it is written as pure comedy and played for laughs. That takes some of the sting out of it. And........the scenery, and I mean all the scenery, is fabulous. Caine and Bologna (an acquired taste) stumble and stammer thru some funny dialog, and no one was injured during the filming of this movie. Well, possibly the insanely gorgeous Michelle Johnson's career. She was in her 1st film and asked to display her assets early and often. And she looks GREAT!! As pretty an 18 year old as you will ever see on film. But she had no acting skills and came off as such an amateur that I would "Blame I On" the director. It may have been hard to do retakes to get it right, or he would have killed Michael Caine in the process.If you don't mind tasteful nudity of a tasteless situation, a typically grating cameo by Valerie Harper and the most colorful and lush view of Rio ever, take a watch. On edited TV its a 3, on cable it's a 6 or 7!!

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