The Dink review: A cheery comedy that might even encourage you to pick up pickleball
This new Apple TV movie starring Jake Johnson and Ben Stiller offers no surprises, but it’s a pleasant enough summery distraction.
Apple TV
- James Mottram
Published: Tuesday, 21 July 2026 at 5:00 pm
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A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Wimbledon may be over for another year, but there’s always The Dink. A cheery comedy starring Jake Johnson as a former pro, it's less about the game of tennis than it is about a rival bat-and-ball sport that's becoming increasingly popular all over the world: pickleball. For the uninitiated, it's another sport on a court, as players use paddles to fire a ball back and forth over a net. Tennis meets ping-pong, you might say.
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In The Dink – the title referring to a style of shot you play in the game – Johnson plays Dusty Boyd, whose career has been reduced to teaching tennis at the American country club run by his curmudgeonly father, Chuck (Ed Harris). While Harris's character isn’t quite the vile patriarch he played in Love Lies Bleeding, he’s mean enough, with Dusty forever trying to live up to his sky-high expectations. Chuck also hates the fact that the "epidemic" that is the pickleball craze is taking off in his beloved club.
Hoping to curry favour, Dusty follows his father's anti-pickleball sentiment, but after re-aggravating an old injury, he’s forced to take up the sport to help with his rehab. Encouraging him is club member and divorcee Candace (Mary Steenburgen), who is an avid pickleball player and looking for a new partner. Before long, Dusty finds he’s enjoying the sport. What’s more, there’s a chance to bury some demons when he encounters real-life tennis champ Andy Roddick, who used to be his nemesis back in the day.
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Scripted by Sean Clements and directed by Josh Greenbaum (who has just completed Spaceballs: The New One, the upcoming sequel to the Mel Brooks classic sci-fi comedy), The Dink is as undemanding as it is breezy. Given it’s produced by Ben Stiller, who makes a cameo as a doctor here, it’s hard not to think of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, the 2004 sports comedy that he previously starred in. But while that also dealt with a sport that’s primarily popular in America, the comedy in that was much broader.
Here, the laughs are batted back and forth almost as gently as a pickleball rally, although stand-up Aaron Chen as Dusty’s loyal friend PJ is a hoot. Fellow comics Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens) and Chloe Fineman (Saturday Night Live) also feature, while Stiller’s wife Christine Taylor adds to the overall bonhomie with a brief appearance. Roddick also acquits himself well enough with the few lines he has, while he’s joined by fellow tennis legend John McEnroe (who fires his volleys a little woodenly).
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While the arc of the plot is predictable and won’t stretch you, what does feel a tad original is that the Dusty-Candace storyline isn’t driven by romance – despite some initial confusion on the younger Dusty’s part (after they watch The Graduate, he assumes it’s a hint – with Candace as Mrs Robinson to his Benjamin Braddock). Rather, it's about friendship between the two, while Dusty works to emerge from his father's shadow, escaping the regular humiliations heaped upon him.
Johnson, who many will know for his turn in the control room in Jurassic World back in 2015, is the sort of actor who slips in easily into this world, a low-key character who has slightly lost his way. Likewise, the veteran Steenburgen is easy on the eye – especially when she’s leading Dusty around the dance floor at the ‘Cowboy Palace’ saloon bar for a bit of line dancing. True, The Dink offers no surprises – what it serves up won’t shock you one jot – but it's a pleasant enough summery distraction. It might even encourage you to play pickleball.
The Dink is released on Apple TV on Friday 24 July 2026.
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Authors
James Mottram
James Mottram is a London-based film critic, journalist, and author.
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