‘Baywatch’ Trailer: More Intentional Comedy, Same Amount of Slo-Mo Running
It’s weird — with every new trailer, the upcoming big-screen reboot of beloved ‘90s TV series Baywatch appears to get a little bit better. The first trailer promised a lightly amusing clone of the smart-alecky 21 Jump Street reboot, the second trailer advertised a competently-produced action tentpole with a healthy sprinkling of meta humor, and now, the so-called “official” trailer (does that make the first two unofficial?) teases what appears to be a sincerely funny comedy. At the very least, whoever cut this thing made it abundantly clear that stars Zac Efron and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson have more chemistry than an eighth-grade science class.
In desperate need of a PR bump, the elite team of lifeguards known as Baywatch bring on new recruit Matt Brody (Efron), a disgraced former Olympian marked by his trademark grill as a stand-in for real-world doofus Ryan Lochte. He’ll have to set aside his ego if he wants to get along with his all-business partner Mitch Buchannon (Johnson) and foil a beachside crime ring spearheaded by stylish gangster Victoria Leeds (Priyanka Chopra). Along with his team (filled out by Alexandra Daddario as the smart-hot one, Kelly Rohrbach as the hot-hot one, and Jon Bass as the token normal-looking one), they cross-dress, hide among rotting cadavers and smart-mouth the cops in hot pursuit of coastline justice.
Frankly, this movie could be 100 minutes of Johnson and Efron trading put-downs and audiences (myself included) would be perfectly happy. They‘re the perfect contrast of hot and cold, keyed-up and laid-back, in control and barely holding on. And while Johnson’s read of “I’m Oceanic, motherf-” cannot possibly compete with his already-immortal Fate of the Furious one-liner “I will beat you like a Cherokee drum,” it‘s still pretty close.
Baywatch will kick off summer with a May 26 release. Don’t forget your high-SPF sunblock.