STICK S1 Review: Varying Degrees of Comic Amusement

Owen Wilson leads a sports comedy, debuting globally on Apple TV+.

Managing Editor; Dallas, Texas, US (@peteramartin)
STICK S1 Review: Varying Degrees of Comic Amusement

Sunny with a chance of rain. Ah, summertime!

Stick
The first three episodes are now streaming on Apple TV+. Subsequent episodes in the 10-episode season will debut every Wednesday through July 23. I've seen all 10 episodes.

Owen Wilson stars as Owen Wilson in Stick. That's a good thing if you have enjoyed his lazy charm over the past quarter century, beginning with Bottle Rocket (1996), which he co-wrote with Wes Anderson and starred in with his brother, Luke Wilson. Though he's appeared in dozens of movies since then, Owen Wilson has not done any credited writing since his trilogy of films with Wes Anderson.

It is the instantly identifiable and insincere salesman Owen Wilson who first appears on screen in Stick. This time he's selling an expensive golf club to a gullible middle-aged amateur with more money than sense. Very soon, however, he lays eyes on a kid with a prodigious golf swing and sells himself on the idea that he needs to attach himself to the kid's inevitable rise to the top.

Wilson's character in the series is a former professional golfer who blew it all when he blew up on live television, losing his cool, his career, and his confidence. Now he's a club pro in a small town in Middle America, cloaked in anonymity, soaked in debt, emotionally tied to his ex-wife (Judy Greer), and primed for something or someone to renew his faith in the golf gods.

He finds the kid, 17-year-old Santi (Peter Dager), and convinces the kid and his suspicious mother Elena (Mariana Trevino, A Man Called Otto) to let him manage the kid for a few weeks with the goal of a spot in the U.S. Amateur Championship, enlisting the cynical support of his widowed former caddy Mitts (Marc Maron), as owner and driver of his own RV, and supplier of witty, withering asides.

In the third episode, a wild card is added to the group, in the form of bartender Zero (Lilli Kay), who becomes another sort of advisor to Santi. Created by Jason Keller, the series is quite predictable up until her introduction; future episodes feature the ripples of her disruption to the newly-established status quo.

Indeed, the series as a whole dives into deeper dramatic pools, allowing the cast to navigate emotional turns that they ably handle. Owen Wilson, especially, imbues his character with a greater depth of feeling, revealing a range that he is fully capable of handling in an empathetic manner.

Even though the narrative threads play out in routine fashion, Stick is quite pleasant to watch in half-hour increments. The first episode runs 46 minutes, which feels a bit long, but it has to do most of the character introductions and suggest their individual backstories. The slimmed-down second and third episodes motor along in good course, even as they easily maneuver through potential potholes.

The dialogue is light and amusing, and it feels like the type of show that plays well on a weekly viewing schedule, which is how it will play out over the summer. A show that revolves around golf may not sound terribly appealing to younger audiences, and the musical choices reinforce the demographic target, featuring classic rock songs from the 1960s and 70s that are now MOR, like The Who and Thin Lizzy.

Having played only one or two rounds of golf in my entire life, I am not inherently inclined to watch a golf comedy series in my spare time. Still, I enjoyed the interplay between the characters, and I remain a fan of Owen Wilson's acting, in which he continually finds tiny variations of anxiety and frustration, tempered by his apparently inherent optimism.

Fore! (Or whatever they say in golf to signal enjoyment.)

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Stick

Writer(s)
  • Jason Keller
Cast
  • Owen Wilson
  • Marc Maron
  • Peter Dager
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Apple TV PlusLilli KayMarc MaronMariana TrevinoOwen WilsonPeter DagerJason KellerComedySport

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