Baywatch finally paddled into theaters and audiences who are sick of Winter and Spring and just want to go straight to Summer headed to theaters to get a major dose of shirtless hunks, Priyanka Chopra as a stylish villain, shirtless hunks, people being saved from beach catastrophes, Zac Efron shirtless, and The Rock adding to his trophy case of blockbuster romps. Early critical reviews were a middling mass of confusion and disappointment, with some appreciation for the jokes and the overall vibes of the film.
The Rock wasn’t too happy about the reviews compared to fan reactions, which isn’t a great look for the global superstar seeing as much of the critical frustrations came from degrading or regressive “jokes” and sophomoric humor. Even someone who seemingly can’t lose at the box office sometimes has a bad day.
Yay positive upticks 😂
Fans LOVE the movie. Critics HATE it. What a glaring disconnect. People just want to laugh & have fun. #Baywatch🔥🤙🏾 https://t.co/GrPgdevRuz— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) May 25, 2017
Despite what The Rock might think, fan reactions were just as mixed but had a more drastic scale of people who loved it and people who would have rather not ever paid money to see it.
So…. #Baywatch was essentially terrible with some funny moments and a lot of really attractive humans.
— Ryan Bentley (@PrimeMN) May 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/amandaazar/status/867927306916044802
@TheRock -Had an amazing grown-up date night! Hilarious! Thanks for the great night out! #Baywatch #23years&stilllaughing
— Kelli McKinney (@mckinney_kelli) May 26, 2017
#Baywatch is hands down the funniest movie of 2017!!! Absolutely hilarious!!! 😅😅😅 😅😅 I could not stop laughing!!!
— Mr.Bossman (@FarhanBossman) May 26, 2017
I enjoyed #Baywatch so much. The Rock is a fucking treasure. The whole movie was pretty hilarious. What you'd want out of a Baywatch movie.
— 🛣Cherie On My Wayward Sons👬🏼 (@cheriemorte) May 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/King_Cali_X/status/867924555301404674
https://twitter.com/ColtonD84/status/867921202232279040
I want to be honest. I don't know why they made a movie of #Baywatch . It's a bunch of bad jokes that makes series seem like Shakespeare
— 💜🌈Jeff (@jbshick21) May 26, 2017
Regardless of the fan reactions, the movie’s producers are already planning on what a sequel could look like should it happen (and they seem pretty confident in it having at least a fighting chance). According to Variety, producer Beau Flynn said of a sequel coming to fruition,
“We have an amazing story already. We’re bringing back Shannon and Swift who wrote on the first one, and I know Dwayne would be in, I know Zac and all the girls would be. We just have this really cool idea to put them in this whole new world. We would take it overseas.”
While that’s not exactly a confirmation that a Baywatch sequel is actually approved at this point (this weekend’s box office will still make a huge difference in whether such a project lives or dies) it’s good to know that if it moved forward Baywatch: Tokyo Drift is a real option.
(via Variety)
