cult film freak: MICHELLE JOHNSON WITH MICHAEL CAINE IN 'BLAME IT ON RIO'

Written by James M. Tate / 3/06/2026 / No comments / demi moore , eighties , joseph bolonga , michael caine , michelle johnson , sex comedy , stanley donen , valerie harper

MICHELLE JOHNSON WITH MICHAEL CAINE IN 'BLAME IT ON RIO'

3/06/2026 | No comment

Sherwood Productions logo for Stanley Donen's BLAME IT ON RIO Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2

In Stanley Donen's 1980's glossy/uptempo Americanized French-remake BLAME IT ON RIO, one creatively surreal sequence really stands out: when Michael Caine, on his way to the titular location for a busman's holiday with business partner Joseph Bologna, gazes through the airplane window and sees plane-wing-dancing footage from the Golden Age of Hollywood that Donen had reignited with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN...

After that, RIO is the usual older-guy-hooks-up-with-hot-young-dream-girl comedy, where real life model Michelle Johnson's mere perfection provides its own novelty, allowing actor's actor Michael Caine a chance to do light comedy before it would garner an Oscar in Woody Allen's upcoming HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (as Caine's 4th-wall-breaking narration is straight from ANNIE HALL)...

From BLAME IT ON RIO

While Johnson's squeaky, high-pitched speaking voice sounds more overheard than that of a practiced actress (outshined by a young Demi Moore as Caine's daughter with bitter wife Valerie Harper), she has not only the tall knockout male-fantasy looks but the bubbly naivete that compliments an older man who could have seemed creepy (especially since Michelle even wears little-girl braces) if Caine hadn't played it equally shy, clumsy and unassuming...

Leaving Alpha-Male Bolonga to deliberately steal scenes like MY FAVORITE YEAR, that successfully did for Peter O'Toole what this semi-feebly attempts for Caine... providing a legendary British dramatist a mainstream comedy (for a nice paycheck)... but there's not enough affable quirkiness within the movie itself to equal what both Caine, Johnson and Donen are attempting: more of a 1950's-style vintage throwback with modern edge than a 1980's sex romp exploitation with kitschy nostalgia.

Michael Caine and Joseph Bologna in BLAME IT ON RIO

Stuntwork taken from the 1933 musical FLYING DOWN TO RIO

Michael Caine and Joseph Bologna in BLAME IT ON RIO with Michelle Johnson & Demi Moore

Michael Caine and Valerie Harper in BLAME IT ON RIO

Michelle Johnson in BLAME IT ON RIO

Joseph Bologna in BLAME IT ON RIO

Michael Caine and Michelle Johnson in BLAME IT ON RIO

Michelle Johnson in BLAME IT ON RIO

Demi Moore in BLAME IT ON RIO

Blame It On Rio DVD signed by the Michelle Johnson and the late Valerie Harper

From the credits of BLAME IT ON RIO

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Tags : demi moore , eighties , joseph bolonga , michael caine , michelle johnson , sex comedy , stanley donen , valerie harper

James M. Tate

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