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Thursday, June 1, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS

‘Baywatch’ flops 

By FALLON GATES

Daily Arts Writer

With big time actors Dwayne ‘The 

Rock’ Johnson (“Fast and Furious”) 
and Zac Efron (“The Lucky One”), 
“Baywatch” (for many fans) raised 
the hope of a hilarious summer action 
comedy. Unfortunately, it didn’t come 
close to reaching these standards and 
left the audience wondering if a plot 
could be even more uncreative than 
this one.

Director Seth Gordon (“Hor-

rible Bosses”) based this film off 
the late ‘90s television series 
starring David Hassel-
hoff. Though canceled 
after its first season, 
it became a popular 
show; even members 
of the television show 
“Friends” would watch 
the original slow-motion shot of 
beautiful people running on the 
beach. However, the popularity of 
the ‘90s show will not be shared with 
the latest version.

Mitch Buchannon (Johnson) is 

the chief lifeguard of the Baywatch 
crew, a legend and hero within the 
Emerald Bay he protects. Mitch, 
along with the rest of his gorgeous 
baywatch crew (including swimsuit 
model Kelly Rohrbach), holds tryouts 
for new recruits. Possible candidates 
including the disgraced Olympic 
swimmer Matt Brody (Efron), by-
the-book Summer Quinn (Alexandra 
Daddario, “San Andreas”) and local 
nerd Ronnie Greenbaum (Jon Bass, 
“Loving”). 

Although Mitch’s character has an 

aura of mystery and god-like abilities, 
the majority of the characters are 
one-dimensional, and the character 
development is annoyingly predict-
able. Matt was self-serving but learns 

to work with others. Summer follows 
the rules but discovers that break-
ing them can be for the greater good. 
Ronnie, a total geek, somehow over-
comes the impossible and gets with 
a hot girl. It’s a regurgitation of the 
main storylines seen in cinema over 
and over again.

While the idea of “Baywatch” is 

comical, the delivery failed to make 
the audience laugh out loud. The only 
sound to be heard is an occasional 
small noise produced by blowing air 
out of one’s nose at something half-
way amusing. The material of the 
movie is weak, superficial and unsur-

prising. The ending was already 
known 10 minutes into the movie.

However, the film is not a 

total waste. Efron is truly a 
“blue-eyed demon” as labeled 
in the movie. He is reason 
enough to see “Baywatch.” The 
big screen was made to look at 

his countless abs and killer smile. 
Johnson, packed with even more 
muscle than Efron, is also a favor-
ite to watch. From movies like “The 
Game Plan” and “Moana,” there is 
something about his warm and 
friendly demeanor that is always 
so enjoyable to watch.

The girls, too, are absolutely 

drop-dead gorgeous, leaving you 
with a whole new definition of 
swimsuit goals. They are so per-
fect that they will probably leave 
you cringing at the site of your own 
summer body readiness. Hope-
fully, they can serve as some moti-
vation to hit the gym and skip the 
junk food.

If you like a groundbreaking, 

makes-you-ponder movie, steer far 
away from “Baywatch.” But if you 
feel like shutting off your brain for 
a few hours to watch a simple plot 
with beautiful people, then “Bay-
watch” is your summer flick.

Gethard discusses his 
success as a comedian 

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

‘The Rock’ and his crew posing 

By ELI RALLO

Daily Arts Writer

“I was 20 years old, hanging 

out in an old strip club that 
had been shut down, doing 
comedy, and Amy Poehler was 
just hanging out there every 
day. It was the most punk 
rock thing in the world,” said 
American actor and come-
dian Chris Gethard about the 
Upright Citizen’s Brigade, the 
birthplace of New York City’s 
massive comedy scene (and 
his career).

Gethard spoke on the nature 

of the beloved comedy joint and 
finding his place between its 
walls.

“I was a little self conscious 

when everyone started to blow 
up back then… but as for me, so 
far, big thumbs up,” Gethard 
said.

The hilarious New Jersey 

native had his start with his 
talk show, “The Chris Gethard 
Show,” at the Upright Citizen’s 
Brigade in 2009, after taking 
classes there since 2000. He has 
since gone on to write a book, 
become a well known stand-up 
comedian, appear on a myriad 
late night shows including “The 
Late Show with Stephen Col-
bert” and is currently traveling 
around the country to film his 
podcast, 
“Beautiful/ 
Anony-

mous,” live.

Gethard fell in love with com-

edy when he first began taking 
classes in the city during col-
lege.

“I was just this confused, sad 

kid from New Jersey that kind 
of found this place,” he said 
with a nostalgic pause upon 
being asked when he knew he 
wanted to pursue comedy as a 
career.

Despite 
consistently 
hav-

ing work in the field of comedy 
throughout his early career, he 
was continuously finding rea-
sons to underestimate himself 
until he was asked by “Saturday 
Night Live” to be a guest writer 
for a few weeks in his mid twen-
ties. The day Saturday Night 
Live comes knocking at your 

door asking for your brain, you 
kind of realize you’re just where 
you are supposed to be. 

Gethard finds solace in the 

little things; he sings praises of 
New York City, the human con-
nection, news reporters messing 
up during newscasts and never 
falling into mundane routines. 
He called New York a “beauti-
ful laboratory of comedy” and 
spoke about the nature of doing 
comedy in New York by praising 
its authenticity.

“I like to keep things ground-

ed and real. I want to live 
around real people, with real 
lives,” Gethard said.

He believes it is truly quint-

essential New York City to be 
able to perform for tourists 
from Germany, a bunch of your 
comedian friends 
and some people 
from 
suburban 

New Jersey all in 
one night.

Gethard is just 

about as real as 
they come — in 
addition 
to 
an 

infectious 
per-

sonality, 
he 
is 

well spoken in a 
casual way, con-
stantly 
littering 

his responses with jokes and 
self-deprecating digs. He wasn’t 
afraid to consider himself a 
“genuinely stressed out dude” 
and has not let his growing fan-
base and fame get to his head.

“People probably think, ‘This 

guy shouldn’t be in the enter-
tainment industry; he’s a ner-
vous guy with a giant forehead,’” 
he said. “Regular people want to 
watch TV and see a regular guy. 
I’m just a regular person trying 
to make a couple people laugh.”

And with that goal in mind, 

Gethard has been immensely 
successful. His current proj-
ect, the live filming of “Beau-
tiful/Anonymous,” has had an 
outpour of support. In the live 
performance, he takes an hour 
long phone call with an anony-
mous caller and really “sinks his 
teeth into the conversation in a 
big way.” He tweets out a phone 
number before the show and has 

been receiving over 5,000 calls 
per show. The conversations 
range from family secrets to 
shocking confessions to psycho-
logical discussions — anything 
can happen, and that spontane-
ity keeps the audience engaged.

In his conversation with the 

Daily, Gethard reflected on the 
nature of real interaction, tying 
this notion of human connection 
into his intentions with creating 
“Beautiful/ Anonymous.”

“As a society, we’re moving 

away from phone calls. I can 
remember when the kitchen 
phone would ring and you’d 
have no idea who would be on 
the other end. There are one 
billion people in this world and 
everyone has something to say,” 
Gethard said.

Everyone 

definitely 
has 

something 
to 

say, 
and 
the 

words of Chris 
Gethard should 
certainly 
not 

go 
unnoticed. 

Whether he is 
having a blast 
with 
friends 

on 
his 
talk 

show, appreci-
ating the gaps 

of silence in a live one man 
show, hitting the punch line 
in a stand-up performance or 
cracking up over a YouTube clip 
of drunk Ewoks on the “Today 
Show” humping Al Roker’s leg, 
Gethard is creating spontane-
ous humor and hilarious chaos 
in a world that is increasingly 
scary and negative.

“Just put me in a room with 

a whole bunch of people and 
give me a microphone,” he said 
when asked what he hopes to 
do more of in the future. “And 
afterwards, let me go into the 
lobby and shake their hands, 
and look each of them in the eye 
and thank them for their tre-
mendous support.” 

Gethard will be recording 

“Beautiful/Anonymous” 
live 

in Ferndale, Michigan on June 
7th at 8 p.m. The show is 18 and 
over, and tickets are available 
on his website for $25.

Chris Gethard: 

‘Beautiful/
Anonymous’

June 7th @ 8 P.M.

The Magic Bag

$25

Baywatch 

Paramount 
Pictures

Quality 16/Rave 
Cinemas

 ARTIST PROFILE
MOVIE REVIEW

