Ping Pong Summer movie review (2014)

Tully's monomaniacal brand of humor is often tedious since his film's hormonally-charged world is largely established by goony, carbon-dated dialogue like "Oh, dang," and "I'm not frontin' around." But "Ping Pong Summer"'s ensemble cast is great at hitting the same notes over and over again. And, while this isn't an especially high bar to clear, Tully does nail the conventions of the teen comedies he emulates. So while "Ping Pong Summer" does aggressively pander to viewers' nostalgia (dig that Nike track suit, and Run-D.M.C. cassette tape!), it's also warmer and funnier than its worst jokes.

Radford Miracle (Marcello Conte) is not just any lonely 13 years-old doofus. Being a product of his environment, Rad is very social inept. For example, any child of the '90s or '00s could witlessly hard-boil an egg in a microwave, but Rad does it while beatboxing.

During his family's annual summer vacation to Ocean City, Maryland, Rad's activities include being picked on by disaffected goth sister Michelle (Helena May Seabrook), and playing ping pong with new Jheri-curled friend Teddy Fryy (Myles Massey in his hysterical debut role). Rad also likes popular girl Stacy Summers (Emmi Shockley), and therefore stumbles into a romance-and-table-tennis rivalry with W.A.S.P. bully Lyle Ace (Joseph McCaughtry). Also, because the '80s really were a different time, Rad has a friendly reclusive neighbor named Randi Jammer (Susan Sarandon). So, to win the girl and have the best summer ever, Rad must do the worm, and beat the rich kid in a high-stakes game of ping pong.

Since Rad's story is a stock plot, it's only as distinct as his friends and family are memorably goofy. The film's cast do much of the film's heavy-lifting since Tully tends to circle around the same jokes over and over. Thankfully, all of the film's child actors are exceptional, particularly supporting characters like Massey and Andy Riddle, the latter of whom plays Dale, Lyle's fawning lackey. Schticky exclamations like "He's ginumongous" are only so cute. But these kids make you see the best in the film, and nail over-the-top lines like "My dad smoked a cigar while busting a windmill, and that sealed the deal!"

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