{"id":2631,"date":"2026-07-24T05:38:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=2631"},"modified":"2026-08-02T15:46:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T22:46:51","slug":"the-dink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2026\/the-dink\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dink * A Hilarious, Action-Packed Movie That Uses Humor To Deal With Heavy Issues Like Self-Identity, Accepting Changes, And Difficult Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2639\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/thedink.poster-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"122\" height=\"183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/thedink.poster-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/thedink.poster.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 122px) 100vw, 122px\" \/>Washed up former tennis prodigy Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson) has been reduced to coaching unruly children at his father Chuck&#8217;s (Ed Harris) suburban country club. Desperate for his father&#8217;s approval, Dusty blindly supports Chuck&#8217;s vendetta against the new craze taking over the club: pickleball. But when Dusty reaggravates an old injury, taking away his ability to play tennis, he resorts to the unthinkable in the name of rehab. He not only tries pickleball, but, thanks in part to his enchanting new partner, Candace (Mary Steenburgen), he finds himself actually enjoying it. Torn between two worlds, Dusty is forced to finally face the ghosts of his past athletic failures, including his childhood nemesis, Andy Roddick (Andy Roddick). Ultimately, Dusty is drawn into a desperate battle for the future of the club, his father&#8217;s affection and his very identity.<\/p>\n<p>KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Julie O. comments, \u201c<em>The Dink <\/em>Is A Hilarious, Action-Packed Movie That Uses Humor To Deal With Heavy Issues Like Self-Identity, Accepting Changes, And Difficult Relationships with parents. I laughed throughout the entire film and found myself constantly rooting for Dusty.\u201d See her full review below<\/p>\n<p>The Dink<br \/>\nBy Julie O. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 13<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Julie O. reviews The Dink\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nsS5wbF1xgA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2637 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0102-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0102-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0102.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>The Dink <\/em>is a hilarious, action-packed movie that uses humor to deal with heavy issues like self-identity, accepting changes, and difficult relationships with parents. I laughed throughout the entire film and found myself constantly rooting for Dusty.<\/p>\n<p>Dusty, aka \u201cThe Hammer\u201d (Jake Johnson) grew up as a tennis prodigy. Encouraged by his coach, who is also his father (Ed Harris), Dusty suffers an accident preventing him from playing tennis. After his accident, Dusty becomes a pretty bitter person. Now, as a 40-year-old who still works for his dad, Dusty finds himself having to make a difficult choice and accept new challenges if he wants to make his dad proud. PJ (Aaron Chen) is Dusty\u2019s best friend and number one fan who provides comic relief in every scene. On his journey, Dusty also forges a new friendship with Candace (Mary Steenburgen) who challenges Dusty to try new things.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2634\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0107-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0107-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0107.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/>I really enjoy how the story centers on one character, Dusty, and how he is managing his relationships with family, friends, and himself while using the rivalry between tennis and pickleball as a subplot. The conflict between the two sports is hilarious. I love that the film shows how everyone is good at something, regardless of age and perceived ability. I also like the pacing of the film and how it primarily focuses on the main character over a short period of his life. Most of the scenes are set at the tennis club or the pickleball courts.\u00a0 My favorite part is all of the celebrity cameos and how Dusty gets his new nickname.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2633 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0108-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0108-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The_Dink_Photo_0108.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px\" \/>The film\u2019s message is that it is never too late to create the version of yourself that you want to be. The film also focuses on the importance of being open-minded and willing to try new things. Parents should be advised that the film contains profanity and some sexual references.<\/p>\n<p>I give <em>The Dink<\/em> 4 out 5 stars and recommend the film for ages 12 to 18, plus adults. The Dink releases on Apple TV July 24, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Dink \u2014\u00a0Official Trailer | Apple TV\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YyVNFzx5Pl8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washed up former tennis prodigy Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson) has been reduced to coaching unruly children at his father Chuck&#8217;s (Ed Harris) suburban country club. Desperate for his father&#8217;s approval, Dusty blindly supports Chuck&#8217;s vendetta against the new craze taking over the club: pickleball. But when Dusty reaggravates an old injury, taking away his ability to play tennis, he resorts to the unthinkable in the name of rehab. He not only tries pickleball, but, thanks in part to his enchanting new partner, Candace (Mary Steenburgen), he finds himself actually enjoying it. Torn between two worlds, Dusty is forced to finally face the ghosts of his past athletic failures, including his childhood nemesis, Andy Roddick (Andy Roddick). Ultimately, Dusty is drawn into a desperate battle for the future of the club, his father&#8217;s affection and his very identity.<br \/>\nKIDS FIRST! Film Critic Julie O. comments, \u201cThe Dink Is A Hilarious, Action-Packed Movie That Uses Humor To Deal With Heavy Issues Like Self-Identity, Accepting Changes, And Difficult Relationships with parents. I laughed throughout the entire film and found myself constantly rooting for Dusty.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[2986,2990,2995,1245,2985,2987,2989,3000,2984,2953,2999,2968,2982,2991,2992,2969,2983,244,2988,2996,2994,2993,2998,2997,2977,2981,2980,2979,2978],"class_list":["post-2631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-critics-blog","tag-aaron-chen","tag-andy-roddick","tag-apple-original-films","tag-apple-tv-2","tag-ben-stiller","tag-chloe-fineman","tag-chris-parnell","tag-cinema-review","tag-ed-harris","tag-family-movie-review","tag-film-reaction","tag-film-review","tag-jake-johnson","tag-john-mcenroe","tag-josh-greenbaum","tag-kids-first","tag-mary-steenburgen","tag-movie-review","tag-patton-oswalt","tag-pickleball-comedy","tag-red-hour-films","tag-sean-clements","tag-sports-comedy-movie","tag-tennis-vs-pickleball","tag-the-dink","tag-the-dink-2026","tag-the-dink-film-review","tag-the-dink-movie-review","tag-the-dink-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2631"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2641,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631\/revisions\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}