Cast of THE DINK Read Mean Pickleball Comments in New Apple TV Clip
The ensemble comedy follows a washed-up tennis pro who reluctantly converts to pickleball at his father's struggling club.
Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, and their castmates from THE DINK took on a familiar promotional format for Apple TV, sitting down to read mean comments about pickleball ahead of the comedy's debut. The bit leans into the film's central premise, with the cast reacting to real-world skepticism about the sport that drives the story.
THE DINK centers on Dusty Boyd, a washed-up former tennis prodigy reduced to coaching children at his father Chuck's suburban country club. When an old injury sidelines Dusty from tennis entirely, he reluctantly turns to pickleball for rehab and finds himself drawn into the sport, and into a partnership with Candace, played by Steenburgen. The ensemble also includes Patton Oswalt, Chloe Fineman, Chris Parnell, Aaron Chen, and Andy Roddick, with Ben Stiller. Director Josh Greenbaum and writer Sean Clements are credited on the project, with Stiller serving as producer.
The film premiered on Apple TV on July 24, 2026. Dusty's arc pits him against his childhood nemesis Andy Roddick, played by the tennis legend himself, while the larger conflict centers on saving the club from financial collapse.
Johnson previously spoke with TODAY about the physical demands of learning pickleball for the role and the differences between the sport and the tennis world his character inhabits, as covered by BroadwayWorld.
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