Girl from Rio

Like writer/director Monger's previous film, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down a Mountain, this is intended as a throwback to Ealing days. Was it The Lavender Hill Mob where mild bank clerk Alec Guinness takes the money and runs to Rio? Well, substitute Laurie for Guinness and fast forward to Brazil, where Raymond meets the chica of his dreams, Samba queen Orlinda (Nunes), and is promptly relieved of his lolly. Peddling comic stereotypes several generations past their sell-by date, seriously underplotted, and saddled with what looks and sounds like shoddy dubbing, the film leans too heavily on Laurie's sub-Hugh Grant charm. Bursts of Brazilian pop help relieve the tedium.