The Dink - Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

JAKE Johnson has both produced and stars in this amiable sports comedy centred around the world of rising tennis alternative, pickleball, and its underdog tale of personal redemption.

Borrowing shamelessly from every sports genre cliche, and shows such as Eastbound & Down, The Dink nevertheless succeeds on its own terms by embracing its silliness while also serving up a group of characters who are worth spending time with.

Johnson heads the cast as middle aged tennis coach Dusty, a once promising tennis prodigy who was crushed by a humiliating teen encounter with the young Andy Roddick (playing himself) - to the obvious disdain of his father (Ed Harris).

Still carrying the pain of what might have been, Dusty now coaches (poorly) at the tennis club owned by his dad, who in turn is all too aware and disgusted by the existential threat posed by pickleball to his club.

Hence, Dusty sees one route to winning back his father’s approval is to win a key tennis match between the die hard tennis elite and the pickleball crowd, which will decide whether the latter group are allowed any further courts to play on.

But he doesn’t count on how little belief his father continues to hold in him, and subsequently suffers a wrist injury while trying to impress him.

He is therefore mortified when his doctor (Ben Stiller, in an extended cameo) recommends pickleball as the best way to recover from a wrist injury - but upon grudgingly accepting the advice teams up with recently divorced pickleball enthusiast Candace (Mary Steenburgen) and finds his life slowly transformed.

It’s obvious from the outset where the film is heading (and that Dusty will eventually be playing for the pickleballers against his dad), but that doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of watching the events unfold.

Johnson carries the same charm married to insecurity that he honed in New Girl, as well as some of the self-deluded brashness he brought to Let’s Be Cops. He also delivers the one liners with expert precision, generating some decent sized laughs, often at his own expense.

His relationship with Steenburgen’s Candace is also nicely played and offers one of the film’s few surprises in the way that it handles the dynamics and arc of it. Johnson and Steenburgen work really well together.

Further successes come in the form of Harris’ grouchy dad, nicely handled yet with flashes of compassion that hint at the father he could have been, as well as Australian comic Aaron Chen as Dusty’s cringingly adoring best friend PJ (always keeping the right side of annoying) and Patton Oswalt, as pickleball advocate Slip.

There’s also a suitably comic cameo from John McEnroe, playing himself, and Roddick - content to be the straight man riding for a fall.

The Dink therefore gets by on the camaraderie and charisma of its cast as well as the comfort of knowing its genre and delivering on all of the expected beats in competent fashion. It’s easy viewing, for sure, but one that is confident in its ability to serve up a really good game.

Certificate: 12A

Running time: 1hr 42mins