The Dink

by Julian Spivey

Photo: Apple TV

Director: Josh Greenbaum
Starring: Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen & Ed Harris
Rated: PG-13 (language & sexual material)
Runtime: 1 hour & 42 minutes

 
It was only a matter of time before someone made a pickleball comedy.
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Director Josh Greenbaum and writer Sean Clements’ “The Dink,” which premiered on Apple TV on July 24, is that film.  

“The Dink” features the supremely funny and underrated Jake Johnson as Dustin “The Hammer” Boyd, a once-child tennis prodigy who couldn’t hack it as a pro and is now floundering as a tennis instructor at a club run by his domineering father Chuck, played by four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris, in a role that feels weird for Ed Harris. The tennis club has been inundated with pickleballers, led by Patton Oswalt’s Skip, who want more courts for their up-and-coming game, one that the tennis pros look down upon. A tournament will decide whether the courts will be retrofitted for pickleball. Dustin assumes he’ll be his father’s choice to defend the club’s honor, but Chuck has always looked down upon his son after his failure as a tennis star, and when Dustin hurts himself celebrating a win, he’s forced into playing pickleball as a means of rehabbing his injured wrist.

It’s on the pickleball court that Dustin becomes acquainted with Mary Steenburgen’s Candace, a divorcee trying to find a new hobby. Despite a rocky start, Dustin and Candace hit it off, and with wonderful chemistry between Johnson and Steenburgen, you can’t help but wonder if “The Dink” is going to try for a man falls for a woman who could be his mother’s age love story. The film even wryly pokes fun at this with a reference to “The Graduate.”   

Among the film’s funniest performances are Aaron Chen as PJ, Dustin’s friend who feeds into some of Dustin’s arrogance and made-up persona, and cameos by former tennis superstars Andy Roddick and John McEnroe.

“The Dink” is the type of comedy that likely would’ve had a short theater run in the ‘90s or early ‘00s, and might have even starred Adam Sandler at the time, and then lived forever through cable reruns on TBS or Comedy Central. It’s a lot of fun, but nothing you’re going to remember in a few weeks' time. The kind of movie that makes for a breezy Sunday afternoon viewing, which makes it perfect for a streaming service like Apple TV.