The Dink review: Apple's pickleball comedy is a hit
The Dink review apples viewers keep asking about is clear: Apple TV's pickleball comedy is a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming crowd-pleaser. Directed by Josh Greenbaum and led by Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen, it celebrates the sport without mockery and premieres on Apple TV on July 24.
With pickleball booming, a big-screen comedy about court rivalries felt inevitable. The good news, according to Mashable's film critic Kristy Puchko, is that The Dink landed with the right filmmaker. Greenbaum previously steered the buddy comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar and the documentary Will & Harper—feel-good projects that center older women without punching down on aging.
That humane streak carries into this more mainstream sports comedy. For readers who love looking back at glory days while cheering a new chapter, it also fits neatly beside other then-and-now stories in our Nostalgia: Then & Now hub.
Key Takeaways
- The Dink is a silly, laugh-out-loud buddy comedy about tennis loyalists versus rising pickleballers.
- Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen lead a stacked cast that includes Ed Harris, Patton Oswalt, and Aaron Chen.
- Director Josh Greenbaum keeps the tone wacky, welcoming, and never mean about pickleball or its players.
- The film ties personal reinvention to a big final match, with a John McEnroe cameo as an unsolicited commentator.
- It premieres on Apple TV on July 24.
What is The Dink about, and why does it matter now?
Jake Johnson plays Dusty Boyd, a lovable loser still talking up a brush with long-passed glory. As a child tennis prodigy coached by his father Chuck—played with comic steel by Ed Harris—Dusty was groomed to be the next hard-hitting legend. A disastrous match against Andy Roddick (yes, the real Andy Roddick) wrecked that reputation.
Years later, Dusty is a lollygagging kids' tennis coach at the club his father runs. Then pickleballers invade their pristine courts. In a deranged slideshow, Chuck warns that the newcomers—led by Patton Oswalt—want more courts and could crowd tennis out entirely. His answer: a tournament pitting the best tennis player against the best pickleballer, with the winner deciding the courts' fate.
Dusty's plan to crush the pickleball uprising gets derailed when he starts playing the game himself alongside charismatic older women, including Candace (Mary Steenburgen). The early learning curve—and the sport's playful lingo—is rough. Friendship blooms at movie nights and country bars. Both Dusty and Candace realize they have been stuck in old personal narratives that block a better future. Those lessons land in a climactic match where pickleball becomes a metaphor for life, spelled out clearly enough that audiences will not have to strain to catch it—especially with John McEnroe dropping in as an unsolicited commentator.
Why it matters: the film rides a cultural moment where tennis-club tradition collides with pickleball's surge, while arguing that reinventing yourself beats clinging to yesterday's scoreboard.
Who stars in Apple's pickleball movie, and how funny is the cast?
Johnson, seasoned by years on New Girl, leans into lovelorn buffoon mode. Steenburgen brings elegance that makes Dusty's crush on Candace easy to believe. Crucially, the movie refuses a clichéd opposites-attract rom-com. Johnson plays the fool; Steenburgen is the straight man. Mashable calls their chemistry crackling and their comedic timing sublime.
Opposite Aaron Chen—a co-worker who idolizes Dusty and buys every tall tale—Johnson shifts gears again. Greenbaum mines offbeat humor through goofy visual gags and Chen's flat delivery as a foil to Johnson's floundering.
The supporting bench is stacked with gleeful bit parts: Ben Stiller as a rambling doctor, Oswalt as an uptight pickleballer, Chris Parnell as a smug tennis player, Chloe Fineman as a mean ex, and the late Lynne Marie Stewart (known for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Pee-wee's Playhouse) as a flirty friend of Candace's.
Ed Harris, though, is the howler. Long celebrated for ruthless-father roles—from Love Lies Bleeding to the dark comedies Riff Raff and How to Make a Killing—he treats a club-court squabble like an existential threat. He meets Dusty's freakouts with a stern, unfurrowed brow. That dead-serious commitment is what makes the bits hysterical.
Is The Dink worth watching if you do not play pickleball?
Yes, if you want a crowd-pleaser that blends styles instead of chasing one joke forever. Greenbaum mixes Barb-and-Star-level weirdness with physical comedy and a serene absurdity Mashable likens to the comedy of Will Ferrell and Harper Steele. Johnson hits broad beats with aplomb; Steenburgen fires stinging one-liners and lively reactions.
Most important for skeptics of the sport: The Dink will not mock pickleball or the people who play it. Greenbaum's comedy is defiantly wacky, welcoming, and humane—never mean. That makes the film easy to recommend across ages and interest levels, whether you already love the sport or are simply curious about the buzz.
In short, the nostalgia hook is Dusty's tennis past colliding with a present he cannot control—until friendship and a new game force him forward. The buzz hook is a stacked cast delivering laugh-out-loud set pieces without cruelty. And the practical hook is simple: mark July 24 on Apple TV if you want a feel-good sports comedy that treats reinvention as the real win.
For US and UK audiences who want something silly yet sincere, The Dink looks like the rare sports movie that courts both tennis die-hards and pickleball converts—and leaves both sides smiling.