Chica de Río

Literally a rating for a good story and it is true that Hugh Laurie's Raymond carried the movie. Without his talent and comedic additives this movie wouldn't have a cat's chance in hell of success.

The ending is brilliant and unpredictable. The English dialog amongst the non-English characters is ridiculous and typically bad. Last and least, I'll be happy never to see Santiago Segura in anything else ever again. He's fat, sloppy, ugly and how he ever landed a roll in any film (other than snuff) is beyond me.

The title makes no sense only because the movie has little to do with the girl... who happens to be from Rio. As my summary suggests something as corny as A British Samba would have actually worked considering what the movie is about.

This was actually a great "bad" movie. Definitely my style.

...in a you-always-know-exactly-what's-going-to-happen kind of way. Girl From Rio is hardly going to have you glued to the screen, or really make you think in any kind of way, but it makes for a pleasant couple of hours all the same, spattered through with a few decent laughs and the delightful Vanessa Nunes (or, to be more exact, Nunes' delightful backside).

Most of the movie's charm is, unsurprisingly, attributable to Laurie's performance; while hardly stretched (Raymond is the sort of character he can probably play in his sleep by now) he nonetheless remains both sympathetic and genuinely likable throughout. So much so, in fact, that you can forgive the quite remarkable implausibility of the whole thing, along with some absolutely horrendous support turns, a lazy script, pedestrian direction and some ridiculous soundtrack choices (such as when Raymond finally gets to dance with Orlinda and the samba beat bizarrely fades into a fromage-encrusted swell of strings). Indeed, that a movie so intrinsically flawed and worthless can be made perfectly enjoyable is a sturdy testament to Laurie's charisma.

Well, that and Nunes' arse...

It's hard for me not to like a movie that: A) takes place in an exotic tropical country B) has the protagonist sleeping with his dream girl after knowing her an hour, and C) has a happy ending. These qualities nearly compensate for the weaknesses of The Girl From Rio.

The plot of this Hollywood Film Festival winner is pedestrian and slack. You gotta like this Raymond guy, though.

Raymond (Hugh Laurie) is a bank clerk with a thoroughly unlikable boss, a cuckolding wife, and an endearing passion for Salsa dancing. Laurie's is the film's only real nuanced performance. No matter what he's saying or doing, his eyes betray him. His ubiquitous fear that the world is a dangerous and scary place has become his reality. It's clear, however, that beneath his pitifully polite and feckless British demeanor is a simmering frustration. Whatever you do, don't confuse Salsa with Bossa Nova. That makes Raymond really angry.

Raymond quietly endures his mostly comfortable life until, quite suddenly, the machinations of his wife and boss render him alone and disconsolate. A coworker commiserates, `It could be worse,' and Rodney does his best to prove his friend right by filling a duffle bag with all the bank's cash on Christmas Eve and hopping a flight to Rio de Janeiro.

Enter The Girl. `S' words come to mind. Sultry. Sensual. Sizzling. Steamy. Vanessa Nunes's Orlinda is a famous Brazilian Samba dancer whose mere picture fuels Raymond's first-class flight from sanity. Then it's this pesky plot stuff again. Paulo, the taxi driver (Raymond's seedy, hapless Sancho Panza) just happens to know Orlinda. They meet, they dance down a Brazilian calle accompanied by a thousand musicians and acolytes, they go to his room, they make love. As much as I was rooting for old Raymond, I felt vaguely ripped off.

Not nearly as ripped off as Raymond, however.

Everyone in this film has a secret. Raymond. Olinda. (`You're just a thief like me,' she tells him.) His boss. His wife. Paulo. Even the painfully anachronistic villain.

As I mentioned, everything turns out just fine. Even the obscene economic disparity of Rio (better portrayed in 1999's Orfeu) is corrected in authentic Robin Hood fashion.

Did I mention the villain? They made him carry a little dog.

"Who doesn't like Samba, you'd rather not meet

There's sick in the head,or lame in the feet"

Wrote Dorival Caymmi in 'Samba da Minha Terra'

It seems another punter doesn't know the difference between Salsa and Samba. The difference is the same as between Spanish and Portuguese.

I arrived at this film by accident. I had video taped it and promptly forgot about it. Then I tried to get through City of God and Favela Rising. I know City of God is well thought of but both films I found upsetting. Drugs, kids, killing, guns and gangsters. Enough of that!

As usual I was looking for some spare tape on my badly listed VHS tapes. I fast forwarded a bit, caught the end of another programme I had taped. Then suddenly my favourite Samba beat struck up ! It then alternated with a Northern British brass band. All done in early 1970's bright cartoon style. It was the rhythms that caught my attention. Then came the name of the film ...'The Girl from Rio' I was hooked !

The story of this film has already been recounted by previous posters along with the confusion of Salsa and Samba.

I must make a confession, I have been to Samba classes just like Raymond ran in the film. This may be one of the reasons I liked it, identification. Of course there were faults. How did Orlinda open the safe in Raymond's room, a nice big combination lock thing? Santos Dumont Airport was used, Raymond takes of in a Boeing 737 and lands in a MD-11. It would not be unusual to take off from Santos Dumont, land in Sao Paulo. Then get the flight to London. Yet does that matter, for the artistic continuity of the film the way it was done was good enough. How many people would know anyway ?

I was very envious of Raymond's trip to the Salgueiro Samba School and his girlfriend Orlinda(Vanessa Nunes).

When Orlinda appeared out of the crowd of Samba dancers to dance in front of Raymond, I was captivated.

The film was a fun piece of nonsense that I found very enjoyable. I loved the twist at the end. I loved the twist of Orlinda as she danced the Samba. So infectious, neither Robert or myself could stay still.

Strangely back in 1997 I wrote a story with basic similarities. Check out the link:- 'Sex is Great! If you can get it ?' http://www.geocities.com/cafebrasilia_2000/index5.html

The Girl from Rio is an entertaining diversion. Simple, light hearted and amusing; it is a fun movie with excellent performance from Hugh Laurie who plays his usual bungling but good natured self and Vannesa Nunes is just fantastic.