Title: The Dink
MPA Rating: PG-13
Director: Josh Greenbaum
Starring: Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
What It Is: Dustin (Johnson) used to be an incredible tennis player as a youth. When he’s beaten by future tennis legend Andy Roddick as a kid it’s a slippery slope towards irrelevancy for Dustin. Now he instructs tennis at his father’s country club. When he learns that there’s a way to impress his very difficult father (Harris) he learns pickleball and begins to try to use this skill to save the aforementioned country club. Can he actually do it?
What We Think: This is funnier than it has any right to be. There are moments when I chuckled and it surprised me. Jake Johnson is perfect as the man child that is Dustin. His sidekick played by Aaron Chen is a one-liner dropper! It’s not some revelatory comedy that’ll transcend time. No, this will however entertain you for 102 minutes. Loved Mary Steenburgen here. She’s always got this low-key vicious sense of humor. At no point does this reinvent the comedy wheel. There are some decent zingers in here. It’s a script that you know exactly where it’s going and if you’ve seen any sports comedy….well ever made you’ve got this one in the bag.
Our Grade: C+, A perfectly even grade for a decent if unspectacular film. Apple TV+ at the very least has their quality control on lock (something I wish Netflix would do!). If you want something you can laugh at and simply enjoy with your brain off, sometimes that’s all we want as an audience. I know I’m guilty of it. When I’m making decisions on what to review sometimes I just watch stuff and see what it looks like. That’s sort of how this one panned out. Still check it out. It’s kind of cool and a little bit funny.
