Tennis, Anyone...? (2005)

Donal Logue's writing and directorial debut (with Kirk Fox co-writing), Tennis, Anyone... ? follows the trials of actor Danny Macklin (Logue) after his wife leaves him for another man. He befriends Gary Morgan (Kirk Fox), an aspiring but untalented actor who was once a decent professional tennis player. They bond over their love of the sport as Gary teaches him to play better. After various small parts and embarassing setbacks, Danny lands the lead role on a popular new family sitcom but doesn't maintain strong confidence as an actor due to the constant berating of frenemy (wow I guess I just used that word) Johnny Green (Jason Isaacs), a successful TV actor and adept tennis player. Meanwhile Gary is still trying to make it in movies but gets no breaks, so he decides that playing some celebrity tennis tournaments with Danny will give them both the spiritual and physical lift they need. Of course it all comes down to a big tennis showdown between the Johnny/his short short-clad soap opera actor friend team and the Gary/Danny team.

This movie was all right. It didn't have the best premise or plot organization, but it had some great interesting and comedic bits scattered throughout. It's definitely one of those films that's about the relationships and not the actual story, and I get that, but I was still a little confused or putt off by the loose storytelling and throwaway scenes. Like this movie didn't know where it was going. Donal Logue was very likable and Kirk Fox was exactly like a scrawny Luke Wilson, which was cool. Paul Rudd had an excellent small role as Danny's porn star former roommate. All in all, I liked it, but I just don't have much to say. It's funny and had some good performances but isn't not particularly memorable. Also I'm not really into tennis.

3.5/5