The Dink

By Joanna Langfield

This genial comedy may not be grand slam level, but it does score a few solid points.

Here’s the somewhat standard set up: a washed up former tennis prodigy is now working at his oh so distant Daddy’s club, assigned to teach children how to hit the ball. Dusty’s once promising life has been reduced to coaching privileged kids who scream at him until, after once again disappointing his father, he winds up hitting the local pickleball courts.

What I was hoping would have been a more arch take on the popular sport assures us pretty quickly it is not that. But its insistently nice point of view, while not exactly fitting into the current hot take mentality of the day, does win us over. I mean, who wouldn’t fall under the spell of Mary Steenburgen, the divorcee who befriends the equally lost younger man? And who wouldn’t get a kick out of Ed Harris, almost unrecognizable as the gruff Dad, fighting to keep his tennis courts in lieu of losing them to ones for pickle? Director Josh Greenbaum, who also gave us the hilarious Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, knows how to keep the proceedings rolling, spicing things up along the way with some fun guest appearances.

The only one who feels as if he has anything at stake here is Jake Johnson, who, impressively, slips into the role of Dusty with ease. The former comedian and star of TV’s The New Girl has “been around” the business for years, but stepping into the spotlight in this piece is a lovely opportunity for him that he handles with just the right touch.