File this one under “Silly, but fun.”
I’ve been waiting for filmmakers to embrace the rapidly expanding explosion of pickleball, and director Josh Greenbaum and scripter Sean Clements have treated this new sport pastime with a blend of humor and good-natured ribbing.
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| Much to his surprise, washed-up tennis pro Dusty (Jake Johnson) begins to enjoy pickleball, thanks in great part to the kindness and encouragement of Candace (Mary Steenburgen), his regular partner. |
From the moment he could hold a tennis racket — age 3 — Dusty Boyd was groomed and trained by his father, Chuck (Ed Harris), to become a skilled, forceful and unrelenting tennis pro. By age 17 (now played by Nathan Blair), laden with a roomful of trophies, he had earned the nickname for which he would henceforth be known: “The Hammer.”
Then, catastrophe: Following a climactic, hard-fought match against the similarly talented Andy Roddick (Cooper Woestendick), Dusty miscalculated a cocky jump over the net ... and his career was over.
Cut to the present day.
Dusty (now Jake Johnson), still driving his beloved 1999 Buick LeSabre, has been reduced to coaching children at Chuck’s tennis club. Dusty has been recounting his flashback rise and fall to a pair of adolescents who couldn’t possibly care less (played with eye-rolling, long-suffering-sigh perfection by Indiana Elle and Cayden Romero).
Alas, change is in the wind. Chuck already has granted two of his courts to the demands of local pickleball enthusiasts (the two courts most in need of repair, it should be noted). He’s finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the group’s earnest spokesman, Skip (Patton Oswalt), who wants more courts ... and his well-researched arguments are starting to gain traction.
In an effort to silence Skip, Chuck proposes a winner-take-all pickleball match between each group’s best player. Dusty — insisting that he’s now fully healed, and still desperate to prove himself in his father’s eyes — lobbies to be the club’s champion. Chuck reluctantly agrees, and Dusty throws himself into training ... and, naturally, reaggravates his original wound, and is forced to step down.
To add insult to injury — literally — Dusty’s orthopedist (Ben Stiller) prescribes pickleball as the perfect “soft contact” activity to help him heal again.
And, so, Dusty reluctantly joins a gaggle of “pickle pals” on their court one day. He’s partnered with Candace (Mary Steenburgen) in a match against the feisty Gail and Judy (Cleo King and Lynne Marie, both a total hoot). They relentlessly talk smack and taunt Dusty during the calamity of his first attempt at the game, as he repeatedly tries to employ knock-it-over-the-bleachers power returns, instead of the necessary gentler touch ... and whiffs every time.
But as time passes, and almost against his will — Johnson is a great complainer, and adept at glances of tortured dismay — Dusty begins to enjoy himself. Much of that results from Candice’s patient encouragement and radiant charm, and also her savvy understanding of the psychology involved with some opponents.
A match against Esther (Fortune Feimster) and George (Steve Berg) is hilarious, when Candace explains that it’s necessary to “out-grunt them.”
Clements’ script now moves along two parallel paths: maintaining the focus on Dusty’s increasing pickleball skill and enthusiasm, while adding a charming spark of developing friendship — and perhaps more? — between him and Candace. Johnson and Steenburgen are sweet together, and Dusty’s expression wanders from bemusement to a tentative willingness to wonder if something might occur with a woman twice his age.
Unfortunately, everything frequently is undercut — sometimes quite jarringly — by two supporting characters. Stiller’s Dr. Stone is the greater offender, repeatedly stooping to suggestive sexual vulgarity, apparently because some idiot felt it necessary to go for a PG-13 rating. Every comment lands with a painful thud (and Dusty’s baffled, mildly disgusted expressions were matched by mine).
Then there’s the matter of PJ (Aaron Chen), Dusty’s constant companion and one-man cheering squad. Clements and Greenbaum relentlessly overwork this character, and poor Chen’s performance zooms way past sycophancy, to a point where his constant prattle makes PJ look and sound like a blithering, motor-mouthed idiot.
Not even midway through the film, I dreaded his every appearance.
Although this clearly is Johnson’s film — and he makes the most of it — he’s matched by Steenburgen. She grants Candace far more depth and personality than one would expect, in such a light-hearted story. She’s perky, wise, sincerely friendly, mischievous, flirty and — at a telling moment — suddenly vulnerable.
Harris is persuasively intimidating as the demanding, overbearing Chuck: note-perfect as the Parent From Hell.
Chloe Fineman makes the most of her brief appearance as Marisa, Dusty’s ex; it’s a shame she wasn’t given more to do. Martin Kove and Christine Taylor fare better as Mitch, Candace’s ex, and his new main squeeze, Bea. They bump into Chuck and Candace during a droll sequence in a cowboy bar.
Greenbaum and Clements build their dramedy to its anticipated climax, as Dusty — having become a pickleball champ — faces off against his former nemesis, Andy Roddick (now played by Roddick himself, formerly ranked as the World No. 1 in men’s singles).
In a marvelous, cherry-on-top touch, a deadpan John McEnroe is hilarious as the play-by-play commentator.
Although there’s much to enjoy here, this is a classic case of a film that could/should have been better ... had it gotten out of its own way.
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