By Glenn Kay
For the Sun
Rating: ++
out of ++++
Running Time: 102 minutes
This feature from Apple Original Films will be available to stream through Apple TV on Friday, July 24.
Not sure if you might have heard the news, but there is a little period film called The Odyssey from Christopher Nolan that is currently making the rounds at cinemas. This high-profile movie has stood as the summer tentpole (and perhaps the biggest movie of the year in general) that studios have been avoiding so as not to compete with. It was the only title to open last week, and no major feature is opting to compete with it over the next seven days either.
But, if you are looking for counterprogramming, there is an option.
The Dink is a wacky, R-rated comedy with a notable cast that is set around the game of pickleball. I will be honest and state that it’s a film best not viewed within hours of seeing The Odyssey (as I did). Lacking any kind of grandeur or scale, this effort’s sole purpose is to provide a few yuks to viewers. Admittedly, it does provide a handful of chuckles thanks to some of the familiar faces on display, although even going in with low expectations, improvements could have been made.
Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson) was once a tennis prodigy whose future on the professional circuit seemed guaranteed. But after a disastrous experience as a teen playing a young Andy Roddick and damaging his wrist in the process, things have never been the same.
He lounges about, working as a kid’s instructor at the tennis club owned by his father Chuck (Ed Harris), and has no pals other than sweet but slow-witted coworker PJ (Aaron Chen). Chuck is both disappointed by his son and the growing popularity of pickleball at his club. In fact, the proprietor is so incensed that he plots to challenge members who play the new, popular game to a special, one-off competition that will banish the game from club grounds if their representative loses.
Dusty sees this as a chance to prove his worth to his dad, but his tennis services in the match are rebuked. With his wrist still acting up, Dusty’s doctor (Ben Stiller) actually suggests that pickleball might be therapeutic. While skeptical, Dusty gives it a go. In the process, he meets some eccentric pickleball enthusiasts, befriends player Candace Boyd (Mary Steenburgen) and ends up playing for them in the big match.
Even writing up the summary of this title points out the absurdity of the story. For one, I imagine being a kid’s tennis coach would be a challenging but potentially rewarding job. Here, it’s played strictly for laughs, with Dusty and the children delivering blunt insults to one another. That being said, there are a few good verbal jabs, and the film manages to use a talented cast to eke some laughs out of the material. Johnson is a good lead, and although I had problems with the way the character was written (which I’ll get into later), some of his frustrated outbursts are amusing.
Patton Oswalt is fun as the club’s pickleball representative, and on occasion the bizarre behavior of the various club players make an impression. As you might expect, there are plenty of curses from unexpected sources. Many miss the mark, but the odd jab lands. This includes a scene involving a couple who grunt loudly while playing. And the final competition is the movie’s best sequence, featuring a famous opponent, unexpected commentary via a celebrity cameo and a lot of posturing and smack-talk from the various characters.
But one major issue with the picture is the writing. The movie doesn’t really want us to dislike Dusty. So, he’s very quick to turn the page and try to be a better person. In fact, in between his ill-timed outbursts and the misreading of one personal relationship during the first half of the movie, he never really behaves as horribly as he should. Instead, he’s a bit misunderstood, displaying occasional impulse control problems. It’s no fault of the cast, but Dusty should have been far more flawed than we see here. One imagines that the comedic and dramatic tension would be more interesting if Dusty was unrelentingly competitive and impossible, perhaps even being unsure as to which group he was supporting right until the last minute.
So, the end result isn’t as cutting as one would hope for. In fact, it’s a little too sweet for its own good. It is clear that the main inspiration for this picture was Dodgeball, but this effort doesn’t have as many memorable characters or the same kind of physical humor that that film managed to maximize. Johnson does make a good comedic lead, but the script needs a sharper edge and more memorably ugly moments to make a lasting impression. The Dink is perfectly watchable, but doesn’t deliver aces when it tries to serve up big laughs.
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