Rhinestone isn't such a bad film. In fact, I nearly gave it an average mark. Yet there's just one too many broad comedy moments (the howling dogs alone is worth a loss of a mark) and Stallone is just too self- consciously "comedic" at points, a clear indication of why his return to comedy movies seven years later was destined to never really take off.
Yet there are some genuinely amusing moments in this film, and, while far from spectacular, it's probably stronger than the current 3.2 rating would attest. But where Rhinestone is significant is that it's almost the first sign of Stallone really losing his way.
To this point his was still producing creditable work, and if early 80s pieces like Escape To Victory were slight misfires, his performance in First Blood showed an actor who still wanted to act, rather than react. But in 1983 the star was paid half a million dollars to place Brown & Williamson products within five of his films, and such an ethically questionable decision presaged a huge drop in his work. This was followed by directing a sequel to Saturday Night Fever, the narcissistic and pointless Staying Alive.
While Rhinestone is okay if far from spectacular, it was followed by turning both of his most famous characters into cartoonesque jokes, a failed new character in the shape of the ludicrous Cobra and a laughably bad arm wrestling movie in Over The Top. He saw out the decade with okayish features in Lock Up/Tango and Cash, but the star who entered the 80s as a genuinely worthwhile actor left that same decade as something of a joke.
Yet there are some genuinely amusing moments in this film, and, while far from spectacular, it's probably stronger than the current 3.2 rating would attest. But where Rhinestone is significant is that it's almost the first sign of Stallone really losing his way.
To this point his was still producing creditable work, and if early 80s pieces like Escape To Victory were slight misfires, his performance in First Blood showed an actor who still wanted to act, rather than react. But in 1983 the star was paid half a million dollars to place Brown & Williamson products within five of his films, and such an ethically questionable decision presaged a huge drop in his work. This was followed by directing a sequel to Saturday Night Fever, the narcissistic and pointless Staying Alive.
While Rhinestone is okay if far from spectacular, it was followed by turning both of his most famous characters into cartoonesque jokes, a failed new character in the shape of the ludicrous Cobra and a laughably bad arm wrestling movie in Over The Top. He saw out the decade with okayish features in Lock Up/Tango and Cash, but the star who entered the 80s as a genuinely worthwhile actor left that same decade as something of a joke.