Watch Blame It on Rio Online

Plot synopsis

Victor (Bologna) and Matthew (Caine) are best friends who work for a major corporation in São Paulo, Brazil. Both are having problems in their marriages -- Victor's wife wants to divorce him, while Matthew has no idea what is wrong and is baffled and irritated at his wife Karen's decision to take her vacation separately from her husband and daughter.

The men decide to holiday in Rio de Janeiro. With them are their teenage offspring: Matthew's daughter Nikki (Moore) and Victor's daughter Jennifer (Johnson). They rent a beautiful vacation home with a somewhat taciturn and disapproving housekeeper.

At the beach, Jennifer is told by her father to cover her bare breasts but refuses, instead dragging her father and Nikki into the water to play. Matthew does not join them and seems uncomfortable with the partial nudity displayed by Jennifer and other women on the beach.

Matthew gets drunk with the amorous Jennifer during a Brazilian wedding, where she discloses to him that she has had a "crush" on him since she was a child. They embark on a secret sexual relationship. Victor becomes furious when he finds out that there is an "older man" in his daughter's life, and he sets out to hunt down the mystery man. He expects Matthew to help.

Matthew is reluctant to lead Victor on a wild goose chase but goes through with it. He tries to talk to Jennifer but she is determined to never give him up. Eventually, Matthew discloses the truth to his friend, but only after Victor has caused a barroom brawl targeting an innocent man. Oddly, though, Victor is not as angry as Matthew expects. In the climax of the film, it's discovered that Victor has been having an affair with Matthew's wife (played by Harper).

As the truth comes out, Jennifer tries to commit suicide with an overdose of birth control pills; needless to say, she survives.

The incident brings all closer together, and Karen and Matthew decide to work on their marital problems. Jennifer begins dating a boy her own age, and Victor remarries his estranged wife.

Matthew's final line of summation is: "You only live once, but it does help if you get to be young twice."

The moral of the story (for essentially this is a morality tale) is the dialogue said to Jennifer in her hospital bed by Karen: " For everything you want in life, there is a price to pay, and somebody has to pay it. It might not be you, but the price will have to be paid."

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