Review of Baywatch (2017) by Troy C — 01 Jun 2017

Nobody wanted a cinematic remake of the campy 90s show that cemented David Hasselhoff's enduring legacy as the butt of all jokes. But alas, here it is anyway, in all its piss-take glory. And it's actually better than you would think.

Turning up the tongue-in-cheek humour to maximum levels, this updated version throws in everything but the kitchen sink to garner a laugh: toilet and genital gags, racy double entendres, ironic meta-jokes, and ludicrous slow-mo shots.

Whilst it's more of a quantity over quality plan of attack-resulting in its fair share of jokes that fall flat-there's a giddy energy that keeps it afloat, with a cast who are game to poke fun at the stereotypes they're playing.

Dwayne Johnson is the beefcake leader, Zac Efron is the thrill seeking renegade, Alexandra Daddario is the hardworking rookie, Kelly Rohrback is the blonde bombshell and Jon Bass is the goofy sidekick; and all ham it up wonderfully.

When it veers into action territory it loses momentum and interest. A couple of the bigger set pieces, including the finale, are drowned out with cluttered editing, shaky camerawork and poor CGI - and, quite simply, are completely boring.

Those sporadic actions sequences threaten to sink proceedings but with its no-holds-barred comedic onslaught and enthusiastically self-deprecating performances, Baywatch is a fun time at the beach.