‘The Dink’ is bland — but cheerful

The Dink, a movie about a former tennis wiz reduced to playing pickleball, is a cheerfully bland comedy about a game that has swept the country. Jake Johnson plays Dustin Boyd, a loser who works as a junior tennis instructor at a country club run by his father (Ed Harris). A tough old bird, Dad regards his son as a failure. An ill-fated match with Andy Roddick ended teenage Dustin's promising career. He’s been floundering ever since. The plot hinges on a request by country club members -- led by Patton Oswalt -- to expand the club’s number of pickleball courts. Harris's old-school character resists because he sees pickleball as a threat to all he respects. It's too easy, he thinks. A reluctant Dustin soon tries his hand at pickleball, teaming with Candace (Mary Steenburgen), a recent divorcee. The two get off to a bumpy start, but become participants in a story that flirts with May/December romance. Aaron Chen portrays PJ, the sidekick who thinks Dustin can do no wrong. Ben Stiller,…