I have a soft spot in my heart for movies like Pickleball: The Movie, a low-budget Kevin Farley starrer that feels retro in all the right and takes us back to the best and worst of Happy Madison and any number of SNL-tinged laffers. 

Pickleball hits all the right notes by keeping itself within the familiar sports comedy territory including a couple of likable lugs you root for, a bullying baddie you don't, a healthy dose of sentimentality, and an ending you see coming from a mile away but still love it anyway. 

Farley is Father Joseph, a small-town priest who spends an awful lot of his day hanging out at the local community alongside the center's owner, Barry (Jay Dee Walters). When Barry suddenly dies from a heart attack, it's revealed that the community center has been having some financial problems thanks to Barry's ill-advised purchases for his out of his league girlfriend. With an $85,000 debt that threatens foreclosure, Father Joseph joins with Barry's adult children, Miles (Willie Mellina) and Earl (Justin Sterner) in an effort to win a high-stakes pickleball tournament's six-figure prize and save the community center. 

Daisy (Stephanie Parker) has her eyes on the prize and snags Bradley Sinclair (Major Dodge) as the film's narrative baddie to win the tournament, foreclose on the community center and, well, who knows what else. 

While Pickleball is overly lengthy at nearly two hours, it's a film that kept me smiling and I found the film's closing moments genuinely funny and moving. Farley has always had an inherent likability, and it's that likability that really shines here. He's undeniably the star, though narratively he's more of a heavily featured supporting player. The chemistry between Miles and Early is a blast to watch, initially somewhat estranged yet growing into both maturation for individual characters and a fun sibling camaraderie. 

Major Dodge is here doing his best Jon Hamm, a compliment in case you're wondering, and he easily gives us a character we love to hate. 

Everything here is light and fun. Directed by Jeff Hamm, Pickleball never stresses itself out stretching for narrative highs and it never hits narrative lows. It feels like mid-range Happy Madison most of the time, pleasing in a familiar chuckle sort of way not too far removed from Stiller's Dodgeball! 

Pickleball's tournament reminded me constantly of the old days when I used to sit down in front of the television watching professional Putt-Putt, about the only sport I've ever played with any success but a sport you knew damn well would never survive long-term as a professional endeavor. 

Released via Filmhub for a streaming distribution, Pickleball isn't life-changing cinema in any way. Yet, it feels like the ensemble cast is having fun and the dialogue has a bit of a snap to it. Yes, there are a few tech issues here and there as one expects with low-budget cinema. However, I enjoyed Pickleball way more than I expected with even a few of the more minor players, for example Glenn Morshower, adding a definite spark to the film. 

They say that cinema is often more about the journey than the destination. You know exactly where Pickleball is going, but you'll still likely have a lot of fun getting there.