Category: Entertainment

The presence of Ben Stiller as both lead producer and supporting player furthers the impression that The Dink wants to do for pickleball what Dodgeball did for that sport. Jake Johnson stars in the watchable but entirely vanilla Apple TV sports comedy, which spins a tale of underdog triumph around a once-promising tennis prodigy who rediscovers his mojo on a pickleball court. If that sounds dorky and formulaic, well, it is, despite Johnson’s appealing screen persona and a brief detour into misguided May-December romance. As original streaming movies go, it’s not the worst, nor is it at all memorable.

Josh Greenbaum, who has worked in both narrative features (Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar) and docs (Will & Harper) and directed the upcoming Spaceballs sequel, knows his way around comedy. But there’s only so much vitality he can inject into Sean Clements’ predictable screenplay. Even an ensemble stacked with veterans of standup, sitcoms and sketch comedy fails to bring much edge to the material. When John McEnroe parodying his unfiltered tennis commentator style is the closest you get to funny, maybe something’s missing.

Johnson plays Dustin Boyd, whose laser-focused, hardass father Chuck (Ed Harris) trained him for tennis excellence from early childhood. He won every possible junior championship, his brutal serves earning him the nickname “The Hammer.” (He drives a car with “DE-HAMMR” vanity plates.) But the young Dusty flamed out when he took on fellow up-and-comer Andy Roddick in a title match that was to be his gateway to pro tennis. A broken wrist curtailed his career aspirations. 

Dustin now puts minimal effort into coaching privileged brat 9-year-olds at the tennis club run by his father, while soaking up the adulation of his uber-geek pal PJ (Aaron Chen), the only person still impressed by Dusty’s embellished tales of his glory days. When an errant pickleball from an adjacent court lands at his feet, he insults Candace (Mary Steenburgen), the woman who politely comes to claim it. “This is a tennis club, lady,” he snarls, before unilaterally banning her.

Much of the early humor revolves around the snobbery of tennis purists toward the rampant craze of pickleball, a sport whose paddle racket, perforated plastic ball and popularity with seniors make it an easy target for jokes. Chuck sees its rapid spread as an existential threat to tennis, especially when pickleball advocate Skip (Patton Oswalt) starts angling to take up more of his courts. In some fuzzy plotting, that negotation will hinge on a duel between the star players of both sides. But when Dusty takes a tumble and aggravates his old wrist injury, that puts him out of the running.

In one of many forced cringe-comedy scenes that have the feel of off-night improv and fail to raise a laugh, Dusty consults a sex-obsessed doctor (Ben Stiller), who advises him that pickleball would be his fastest route to wrist rehab, allowing him to get back in the game before the big duel.

Given the time spent on their classically awkward meet-cute, it will surprise no one that Dusty finds himself teamed up with divorcée Candace, facing her regular opponents, mouthy Gail (Cleo King) and saucy Judy (Lynne Marie Stewart, the beatified Miss Yvonne from Pee-wee’s Playhouse, in her final film role 💔).

Inevitably, Dusty will learn that pickleball requires skill as he develops an unexpected (by him, at least) enthusiasm for the sport, along with romantic feelings for Candace, mistaking her friendship for attraction. Mercifully, Candace nips that potential Harold and Maude situation in the bud, leaving Steenburgen with her dignity intact.

That’s about as risky as Clements’ screenplay gets. From there on out, every story beat will be familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a come-from-behind underdog loser redemption movie. Mostly, it dwells on Dusty’s desperate bid for his emotionally cold father’s approval, in which Roddick plays a part, gamely showing himself in an unsportsmanlike light. (Poor Harris deserves better than Chuck’s unpersuasive paternal atonement scene.)

Johnson (best known for the Fox sitcom New Girl and as the voice of the cynical older Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequels) makes an affable lead, managing to retain the viewer’s sympathy even pre-humbling, when he’s being an obnoxious jerk. And the always-welcome Steenburgen brings relaxed warmth to her role. But the movie doesn’t require much of anyone in the ensemble; comedians like Chloe Fineman, Chris Parnell and Fortune Feimster are wasted in throwaway roles.

Like most meat-grinder, non-auteur streaming originals, The Dink — named for an often-decisive drop shot — has the bland sheen of an insurance commercial. There’s also a techno-inflected score by Dara Taylor, along with similarly pulsing needle drops. But it’s no Challengers. In truth, it’s not much of anything beyond background noise while you’re making dinner. The most imaginative thing about it is that it’s not called Pickleball.

Pierce Capital Entertainment (PCE), the independent film finance and production company founded by Thomas Pierce, who served as an executive producer on Brady Corbet’s Oscar-winning The Brutalist and Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin, and Munich, Germany-based production company FilmCrew Media have entered into a three-picture co-production partnership.

FilmCrew, founded by brothers Kevin Schmutzler and Tobias “Toby” Schmutzler, had an award-winning breakout hit in Nawi: Dear Future Me, a Kenya-set child marriage drama that was selected as the country’s official submission for best international feature film at the 97th Academy Awards.

The partnership will launch with Champions of Nowhere, a feature documentary to be directed by Academy Award-nominated Ugandan filmmaker and journalist Moses Bwayo (Bobi Wine: The People’s President) via his Los Angeles-based Jajja Productions.

“Set against the backdrop of Kakuma Refugee Camp and the Kakuma Football [aka Soccer] League [in Kenya], Champions of Nowhere follows a community whose shared love of sport becomes a source of identity, resilience and hope,” according to a synopsis. The project builds on FilmCrew’s existing ties to the region through its work on Nawi.

“While Kakuma Refugee Camp is known for its harsh climate and diverse refugee community, its inhabitants have found aspiration through the Kakuma Football League,” said Bwayo. “The once-desolate semi-desert now basks in hope, identity, dignity and a fighting spirit that speaks the universal language of sports. This project offers a window into what sports and a fighting spirit can bring to a community.”

The three-picture partnership brings together PCE’s independent film financing and production model with FilmCrew’s European production infrastructure and track record. Together with producers Lydia Wrensch and Caroline Heim, the Schmutzler brothers focus on producing culturally significant stories that address urgent social issues.

“Partnering with Thomas and the team at Pierce Capital Entertainment gives us a tremendous opportunity to scale our vision and bring important stories to a global audience,” said Toby Schmutzler. Added Kevin Schmutzler: “Our goal has always been to tell stories that entertain first, but also have the power to inspire action. With PCE, we found partners who understand both sides of that ambition.”

FilmCrew’s other projects so far have included Biking Borders, released on Netflix and Amazon, Tierbrücke (The Shelter), which documents animal rescue efforts during the war in Ukraine, and Robin: Watch for Wishes, a feature acquired by Electric Entertainment that supported an international campaign for children facing serious illnesses.

Most recently, the Schmutzler brothers’ original feature Beyond Day Zero was selected by the inaugural Next Narrative Africa Fund and is being developed with Trevor Noah’s Day Zero Productions. The story centers on the daughter of a water tycoon who joins forces with a township gangster to challenge the powerful system that divides their society.

Pierce Capital Entertainment is a Los Angeles- and New York-based film finance and production company focused on “commercially positioned independent films with global reach.” It targets projects with “cultural relevance, awards potential and international marketability.”

“This partnership represents an exciting expansion for PCE,” said Pierce. “FilmCrew has demonstrated that meaningful storytelling and commercial filmmaking are not mutually exclusive. Together, we look forward to building films that connect with audiences worldwide and contribute to broader cultural conversations and positive societal change.”

Additional projects under the partnership will be unveiled at a later stage.

During Hunter Biden and far-right influencer Nick Fuentes‘s soon-to-be-released interview — filmed in a Philadelphia studio designed to resemble a sleazy motel room earlier this month — the two opposing fringe political players tackle a range of topics including Holocaust denial, race in America and artificial superintelligence, according to a trailer for the Channel 5 interview exclusively shared with The Hollywood Reporter.

News of the unexpected Biden-Fuentes tête-à-tête — and the moment it apparently got so heated the conversation nearly turned violent — grabbed headlines when it was revealed last week. The interview was brokered by Andrew Callaghan, the creator and host of Channel 5, an offbeat YouTube news channel, and his publicist, after Fuentes reached out looking to do an interview that would shift perceptions about his brand, and Biden, who teamed up with Callaghan to do an interview that could “move the needle” in U.S. politics.

In the trailer, Biden appears to make good on a promise he recently made while appearing on the IHIP News podcast, to ask Fuentes — who has advanced white nationalism and white supremacy on his video podcast — why he is a Nazi, or at least the question is raised by Fuentes, who asks Biden about his interest in the topic in the trailer’s opening line.

The 1-minute, 25-second clip consists of a series of cuts from the two men’s lengthy and, it seems, wide-ranging discussion. It jumps from hot topics like the DEI debate to race and the great replacement theory to Holocaust denial — a view that has become synonymous with Fuentes and his brand, but one he says has shifted from over time.

“As far as Jews are concerned, in general, I think that everybody in the country should be treated with dignity and respect and have their civil rights,” Fuentes says in the trailer.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his recent speech at the city’s Fourth of July celebration also come up, with Fuentes complaining about his nonwhite guests, before the two get into the Trump administration. Donald Trump Jr.’s record-breaking loan from the Department of Defense is also discussed, followed by the president, and Biden offers a stark read on Trump.

“What about fucking Donald Trump? There’s no ideological core,” he said.

Biden’s stated goal was to reach Fuentes’ growing audience of young men known for their devotion to the video podcaster. He has also said he’s seeking to find common ground through the interview — a sentiment that closes out the trailer.

“I want to find common ground on how much of a shithead Donald Trump is,” Biden says. “We can get there.”

The Biden-Fuentes interview is scheduled to be released on Channel 5 later this month; an exact date has not yet been announced.

On Monday, Channel 5 also launched C5.NOW, which it describes in a press release provided to THR as a new “completely independent streaming platform … for outsider documentarians and independent filmmakers outside of Hollywood.”

C5.NOW was born out of Callaghan’s frustrations with streaming services. In the release, he says major streaming platforms censor filmmakers and provide little funding for documentary content.

“You are only as free as the platform’s terms of service,” Callaghan says in the video announcement for the new platform. “It’s smart to create a foothold outside of the controlled web. It’s time to hatch a backup plan right now. Worse than the social media platforms themselves in terms of censorship is the institution of Hollywood, which I would describe as a sickening, nepotistic, gatekept world of godless narcissists.”

C5.NOW is launching with five documentary films, all of which embody Channel 5’s spirit of untold stories and gonzo journalism. The films are: Starcrash, which follows people who study the planets to decide when to buy and sell stocks; Physician, Heal Thyself, a documentary following Gabor Maté, one of the world’s most famous experts on addiction and trauma; Rat Film, Theo Anthony’s film about the city of Baltimore seen through its rats’ perspective; The Art of Protest, about an anonymous art collective in decline and the history of creative resistance; and Callaghan’s Finding Orson, in which he joins Ric Shore on a wild goose chase in search of his beloved bird.

SiriusXM has signed a three-year deal with Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova’s hit comedy podcast The Bald and the Beautiful.

SiriusXM will exclusively distribute the show hosted by the RuPaul’s Drag Race alums through the SiriusXM podcast network. SiriusXM Media, the company’s advertising division, will retain exclusive advertising sales rights for both the audio and video versions of the podcast.

“I can’t believe it! I’m so grateful be a Sirius girl now. Sirius just got a whole lot prettier … you’re all welcome,” Trixie said in a statement.

Added Katya: “I am so excited about this incredible opportunity … it feels surreal joining the SiriusXM family, I am so grateful.”

Launched in 2020, The Bald and the Beautiful has earned nearly 100 million lifetime downloads on RSS. The podcast’s YouTube channel has amassed more than 770,000 followers, cementing itself as a mainstay on the comedy podcast charts.

Trixie and Katya first crossed paths when they competed on season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race, which premiered in 2015. From there, they continued to creatively collaborate with each other, beginning with the popular web series UNHhhh, which led to their sprawling professional relationship. Together, they also star in Netflix’s I Like to Watch web series and released their best-selling advice book in 2020. 

Separately, they both have found success and are regarded as two of the most beloved talents to emerge from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Katya returned to compete in the beloved second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, where she was a runner-up. Trixie subsequently revisited the series for All Stars season three and won the crown; outside of Drag Race, she has a successful makeup brand and starred in the Discovery+ series Trixie Motel, which tracked the real-life renovation project for Trixie’s Palm Springs motel.

New episodes of The Bald and the Beautiful will continue to be available wherever listeners get their podcasts, including the SiriusXM app and all major podcast platforms. 

The Bald and the Beautiful and Katya, as well as Trixie’s audio and touring work, are represented by UTA.

“The simple, the honest and human, as antidote to the complexity of life.”

That’s how Prada describes the vibe of a new campaign for the luxury house’s fall/winter 2026 collection, one filled with stars in front of the camera and an Oscar winner behind it. Prada tapped Barry Jenkins to direct the campaign, which features offerings from the men’s and women’s collections designed by creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons and worn by brand ambassadors Kelvin Harrison Jr., Hunter Schafer, Troye Sivan and Chen Haoyu.

Captured in still and motion images, the actors are seen in “scenes from life” as Jenkins reframes moments of “domestic intimacy” and “normalcy.” Think Harrison in front of a mirror or Schafer slipping on shoes while rushing to get out of the house and those simple moments become more profound — and stylish — as the clothes (or bags or shoes) become a character in the story. Fernando Verder serves as the campaign’s creative director.

Jenkins comes to the project after having most recently directed the Disney blockbuster Mufasa: The Lion King. He won an Oscar for Moonlight, a best picture winner, and has also directed The Underground Railroad, If Beale Street Could Talk and an episode of Dear White People.

The showing marks the latest Prada moment for its roster of brand ambassadors, some of whom have been with the house for years like Schafer, who most recently starred in the final season of Euphoria. She next stars in Blade Runner 2099. “I would define Prada as an intersection. I feel like Prada represents the collision of multiple avatars. Prada is simultaneously youthful, and classic. Loud and conservative. Femme and masc. Hard and soft, etc., etc.,” Schafer said upon joining the house in 2021. “All the best combos.”

The campaign marked a reunion for Jenkins and Harrison after having previously worked together on Mufasa. He next stars in Alpha Gang and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. “Prada’s elegance is based in craftsmanship,” Harrison previously said about the fashion house. “They value people who don’t align with the status quo, who embrace difference, artists who challenge their industry. That mirrors their brand.”

Sivan most recently released his album Something to Give Each Other in 2023, and he shared a tour with Charli XCX. Chen, a Chinese singer and actress, has been seen in such projects as The Heart, A Journey to Love, Be My Friend, Begin Again, Home Coming, A Writer’s Odyssey 2, Summer of Meizhou and the reality competition Ride the Wind, which she won.