Sometimes, you just want to watch a pleasant, good-hearted comedy that isn’t trying to be a belly-laugh machine. Maybe it’s a low-key Bill Forsyth treasure like “Local Hero,” Bonnie Hunt’s gently charming “Return to Me,” or Alan Alda’s amusing showbiz satire “Sweet Liberty.” Director Josh Greenbaum’s “The Dink” is one of those movies.
While it’s a little zanier than those aforementioned films, “The Dink” would rather go for a smile than a guffaw. Written by Sean Clements, co-host of the brilliantly absurd “Hollywood Handbook” podcast, it’s Jake Johnson’s best star vehicle since “Win It All.” Initially, his character, Dustin Boyd, is a hard-driving tennis prodigy known as “The Hammer,” but his aggro antics lead to a wrist injury that derails his shot at a successful professional career. This forces him into a career as a tennis instructor at his dad’s country club, which his old man (Ed Harris) views as an abject failure.
Dustin’s desperation to please his father only leads to more misery. After winning a tournament to determine the future of pickleball at his dad’s club, he re-injures his wrist. To work through his recovery, his doctor (Ben Stiller) recommends that he take up pickleball. So, Dustin begrudgingly teams up with the recently divorced Candace (Mary Steenburgen) and slowly develops a love for the low-impact sport.
Acquired by Apple TV, “The Dink” has been dominating the streamer’s viewing charts since debuting on the service back in July (via FlixPatrol). Evidently, there are a lot of people in the market for a lighthearted, feel-good comedy.
The Dink is a perfect vehicle for Jake Johnson – and Mary Steenburgen, too!
Sean Clements’ script for “The Dink” generally plays by the underdog sports movie rules, but it’s got a few surprises up its sleeve. I particularly loved the way Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship is handled. The latter, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her delightful portrayal of a tap-dancing eccentric in Jonathan Demme’s 1980 dramedy “Melvin and Howard” (another absolute charmer of a movie), continues to make it all look easy. She’s got terrific chemistry with Johnson, who hasn’t been this vulnerable since acting opposite Zooey Deschanel on “New Girl.”
The film’s cast is packed with reliable laugh-getters as well, including Aaron Chen, Chloe Fineman, Patton Oswalt, Cleo King, Lennon Parham, Chris Parnell, and our beloved Miss Yvonne from “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” Lynne Marie Stewart. And while Greenbaum doesn’t go all-out with the visuals like he did with the vibrant and utterly hilarious “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” he proves to be an adept director of pickleball action.
While I’m not the biggest fan of pickleball (i.e. human ping-pong), I found “The Dink” totally adorable, and I think you will, too.
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