This reimagines the cheesy 90s TV-series as an R-rated, tongue in cheek comedy that embraces the ridiculousness of the concept. It may not be big or clever, but it is funny if you take it for what it is.

Premise: Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson) and his team of elite lifeguards watch over Emerald Bay in Florida, but the arrival of an arrogant former Olympic swimmer (Zac Efron) during the try-outs for new recruits upsets the team, just as Mitch starts an investigation into drugs found washed up on the beach and their connection to shady real estate owner Victoria Leeds (Priyanka Chopra).

Verdict:

I’ll be upfront about that fact that I was never a fan of the Baywatch TV series. I always thought that it was both ridiculous with its soap-opera-esque storylines, and at the same time, it took itself far too seriously. If you were a fan of the TV series, then I apologise if you think I’ve sold it short (admittedly, I only made it through a couple of complete episodes), but I also suspect that this movie reboot may not be for you…

Just as several previous movie reboots have done with “classic” TV shows (such as 2004’s Starsky & Hutch prequel, the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard remake, and this year’s CHiPs reboot), the new Baywatch movie takes what was essentially a “serious” TV series and turns it into a comedic parody. This might annoy long-time fans (just as I could never come to terms with the comedy reboot of Starsky & Hutch, having been a childhood fan of the 1970s TV series), but as someone that didn’t particularly like the Baywatch TV series, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the film wastes no time to sending up the ridiculousness of the show’s premise. The opening title sequence has Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson), adored by the regulars on his beach, carrying out a daring rescue against an over-the-top backdrop of exploding logos and summersaulting dolphins. In short, the film knows from the word go that it’s ridiculous, and it runs with it.

“…Dwayne Johnson continues to bring endless charisma to any role…”

In fact, one of the funniest running gags in the film is the relationship between Mitch and local beat cop Garner Ellerbee (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who repeatedly has to explain to Mitch that lifeguards don’t have any jurisdiction to investigate crimes. These explanations continually fall on Mitch’s deaf ears, even when his boss Captain Thorpe (Rob Huebel) and new recruit Matt Brody (Zac Efron) point out that there’s no such thing as being in “lifeguard pursuit”.

Dwayne Johnson continues to bring endless charisma to any role he inhabits, and he’s responsible for a lot of what makes what is, essentially, a rather dumb comedy so enjoyable. I also have to admit that I’ve never been a fan of Zac Efron, but in this film he’s really good (in a role as an initially unlikeable douchebag), and I’m man enough to admit I may have been wrong about his comedic abilities.

The rest of the cast don’t make a huge impact (and Priyanka Chopra in particular has very little to do as a moustache-twirling clichéd villain), but that said, they get the job done, and each character gets a chance to deliver a few good laughs along the way. Once again, a lot of the humour comes from the film sending up the TV series, for example, by having a character ask why lifeguard C.J. Parker (Kelly Rohrbach) appears to be running in slow motion and is “always wet, but not too wet”.

“…a big, dumb comedy that’s perfect for when you’re in the right mood…”

Overall, I don’t want to oversell Baywatch, and I’m not saying that it’s some kind of post-modern comedy masterpiece. But equally, it’s nothing like the car-crash disaster that some reviews have made it out to be. Sure, it’s clichéd, two-dimensional and stupid … but it knows it is, and it makes a joke out of the fact. Baywatch is perhaps the epitome of a big, dumb comedy that’s perfect for when you’re in the right mood for big, dumb laughs on a Friday night with some friends and some drinks. I saw the film in a fairly packed cinema, and the whole audience was laughing throughout, so don’t let some of the killjoy reviews out there put you off if you’re in the mood for some cheesy laughs.