“THE DINK”

We all know and love a sports story. There is something uniquely human about watching people test the limits of the human body. Within every sport, there is an underdog: someone with talent and passion who, for one reason or another, is always one play behind. These are the characters and stories that usually ignite an audience’s desire to root for them and fall in love with their game.

“The Dink” is no stranger to these familiar beats. The underdog here is Dusty “The Hammer” Boyd (Jake Johnson), a former tennis prodigy who was on his way to becoming one of the best tennis players the world has ever seen. But in one of his first professional seasons, he suffers a wrist injury that squashed his and his father/coach Chuck’s (Ed Harris) dreams. Now, Chuck runs a country club where Dusty coaches the junior tennis team, and their relationship has never been the same. While Dusty tries to find different avenues to mend his relationship with his father and potentially have a typical loving connection, Chuck discovers he has a bigger problem to attend to: Pickleball.

With the rise of the tamer, more relaxed sport, demand for more courts at the country club has grown. This will result in the transformation of current tennis courts into courts for the alternative sport, showcasing a decline in tennis’ popularity. Chuck humorously sees this as an epidemic and threat to tennis and refuses to go down without a fight. So he demands a tournament in which each sport picks its best player for a duel. The winner keeps the majority of the courts and dominates the country club. Desperate to be seen in his dad’s good light, Dusty volunteers. Which makes sense, since Dusty had professional experience and is still a talented tennis player. But Dusty is unpredictable and quickly re-injures his wrist. He’ll be unable to play for a while, but there is another sport he can use to regain his strength. Yup, you guessed it: Pickleball.

Watching Dusty attempt to unwillingly acclimate to the calming sport is generally really amusing. It is where much of the humor of “The Dink” comes from, as Johnson plays Dusty with an innocent yet quirky, offbeat humor that allows the audience to initially enjoy watching him suffer or get annihilated by the women of the local pickleball club. It is a great fish-out-of-water scenario that elicits entertaining laughs as we watch an arrogant former athlete become the very thing he hates most: a loser. But what makes the film rise above other sports comedies is that Johnson plays Dusty with a somber undertone. There is a dire need for community, love, and acceptance that Dusty yearns for. So when his new partner, Candace (Mary Steenburgen), a recently divorced woman, shows genuine interest in him, he starts to see what an authentic, honest relationship with no alternative motives looks and feels like. It is these scenes between Johnson and Steenburgen that make the film sing. Because as fun as it is to see the comedy in pickleball and the people it attracts, “The Dink” showcases the true meaning of sports that we always forget: to have fun. Candace allows Dusty’s walls to break down and realize that sports are about enjoyment and enjoying who you are playing with, which is a difficult lesson to learn for someone who has lived a life not only around tennis, but winning. And much like their characters, Johnson and Steenburgen are perfect partners as they try to figure out their identities later in life, after immense life changes.

Much like Josh Greenbaum’s other films (“Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar,” “Hal & Harper”), “The Dink” is an all-around good time with good laughs and a strong heart. Its familiar beats are welcomed with open arms, and the laughs give the audience a pleasant reason to smile in these grueling, serious times. For tennis fans, there are fun cameos, including Andy Roddick playing himself, and jokes especially for that crowd. But for everyone else, it is a warm, light, and heartwarming summer movie. And sometimes, that is exactly what we need.