Movie Review: Baywatch (2017)

Baywatch (2017) on May 25, 2017
Genres: action, comedy

The 411 Junkie Rundown

Mitch Buchannon is the king of the beach. Head of the lifeguard unit that watches over Emerald Bay, they're in recruitment mode. Enter Matt Brody, the arrogant bad boy, Olympic medalist that hit an all time low. He's an automatic "in" since Mitch's boss wants better publicity for his team of lifeguards (not sure why, but there it is). But that's not stopping the drugs being washed up on shores. Mitch, his team, and the new recruits decide to take matters into their own hands to stop the bad guys from mucking up their beach.

Screenplay by: Damien Shannon (Freddy v.s. Jason) & Mark Swift (Freddy v.s. Jason)
Rated: R

The Hook

The previews look hilarious! I mean, really, it does. And the film has Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, and Annabeth (ok, ok. Her real name is Alexandra Daddario but I will always see her as Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson because she did a really good job as Annabeth).

The Good

• The acting. They are what reeled me in and they didn’t disappoint. As far as characters and whether the actors did a good job portraying those characters, Dwayne Johnson (Mitch Buchannon), Zac Efron (Matt Brody), and Alexandra Daddario (Summer Quinn) did their jobs. The top dog, the arrogant bad boy, and the girl next door archetypes were well played (that’s not to say I liked the characters, just that the actors were good in their roles). Add a little humor and they weren’t bad.  I mention these three because they seem to be the main focus but the supporting cast did a great job as well;  Ilfenesh Hadera (Stephanie Holden), Jon Bass (Ronnie Greenbaum), and Kelly Rohrbach (CJ Parker). And of course, bad guy (or to be exact bad girl) Priyanka Chopra (Victoria Leeds) played a pretty good villain (if lifeguards really did have a villain).
• Some humor. The movie did have some of those hilarious moments I alluded to as a hook. The dialogue between Mitch and Stephanie when we meet Matt Brody was awesome. Well delivered and on point. The fact that the film makes fun of themselves, or the TV series, earns points.

The Not So Good

• Drawn out. I am sorry to say I got bored at the one hour mark. Whether the plot was over-predictable (can you be over-predictable? Is there such a thing?) or they overdid “setting the stage,” I just couldn’t believe I was loosing interest halfway through the movie. I fought the urge to fast forward to the ending.
• The rest of the humor. Since humor is subjective, I wasn’t sure if I should mention it. For me, this kind of comedy is out there. Like, out there out there. It’s raunchy in all caps (I suppose I could have done it RAUNCHY, but ah well). I expected it, but it was a bit more than I expected. It was mainly “this is so bad I just have to laugh.”

With that said

I wasn’t as bad as I thought it would. It’s a little out of my usually genres so that was nice. It was good to see if you’re fans of the TV show just because . . . children of a bygone era and all. I just had to give it a shot. I’m not disappointed I did and it did meet expectations (which I admit wasn’t very high), but I probably won’t be watching it in the future. Unless I’m stuck watching it. Like if friends wanted to watch it and we all take a vote and I’m outvoted. That’s probably the only time.