Get out of the kitchen!
The Dink
The film premieres globally on Friday, July 24, exclusively on Apple TV.
Summer -- in the Northern Hemisphere -- is the season for comic sports series and movies, as evidenced by last week's The Hawk, a Netflix show starring Will Ferrell as a professional golfer trying to regain his swing, and Ted Lasso, a series about an American-in-England football coach who now tries to coach women, which returns for its fourth season on Apple TV early in August.
Nearly all such sports-themed movies and TV shows conclude with a rousing game or match, in which the underdog triumphs over adversity, even if the underdog does not always win, as in Rocky (1976) or Tin Cup (1996). Still, the prevailing narrative drive emerges from the premise that the protagonist must Learn Something before Winning Something.
So the challenge for any creative considering a new sports-themed movie or TV show becomes: How can I do something different within the narrow constraints of a fossilized formula?
Written by Sean Clements and directed by Josh Greenbaum, who are both sitcom veterans, The Dink revolves around Dustin 'Dusty' Boyd (Josh Johnson), once a promising tennis player, who is haunted by a humiliating loss he suffered in his youth to future champion Andy Roddick.
Unfortunately, Dusty has grown up to become an arrogant, haughty adult. Retired from the professional circuit and now a tennis pro at a country club, he struts around as though he owns the place. Dusty is enabled by a worshipful assistant PJ (Aaron Chen), and doesn't hesitate to dress down anyone who dares to question him, as when a nice older woman, Candace (Mary Steenburgen), interrupts him one day on the field of play.
Dusty, who is approaching 40, does not have free rein at the club, though. His father, Chuck Boyd (Ed Harris), who actually runs the country club, can still cast a scary, withering glance at his son and reduce the man/boy to dithering idiocy. The old man has been disappointed by his son ever since Dusty's early loss to Andy Roddick, and still feels that Dusty is unreliable and untrustworthy.
The movie's fuel comes from Dusty's burning desire to earn the respect of his father. So when Dusty is injured, he reluctantly accepts the recommendation of his doctor (Ben Stiller) to play pickleball, which he has always demeaned, as part of his physical rehabilitation, all so he can return to tennis, win a big match, and return to his father's favor.
As noted, Josh Greenbaum is a sitcom veteran, so the individual episodes of the film play very well, rapidly moving through their set-ups and punch lines, with most of the verbal jokes landing, as well as the physical comedy, for the most part. Yet he is also able to apply the skills he displayed in his very funny features Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) and Strays (2023), and even his documentary, Will & Harper, 2024, all to make The Dink more effective as a feature-length film.
In Jake Johnson, the film likewise has an actor who can handle all the zingers, as well as the softer dramatic elements, which may feel like softballs, but land with intention.He develops good chemistry with Mary Steenburgen, and the film deftly invokes some very familiar relationship tropes about different-aged couples, and then slams them down. All her character wants is a good pickleball partner, thank you very much.
While The Dink sometimes feels like a pickleball tutorial, the sports comedy is buttressed by a strong cast of comic supporting players, including Patton Oswalt, Fortune Feimster, Cleo King, Lynne Marie Stewart, and Chris Parnell. All these elements mix well together, combining to make the film a more than decent entry in the sports comedy canon.
And the first one I've seen that made me want to play pickleball.
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