Ping Pong Summer

It's 1985. Rad Miracle (Marcello Conte) is an awkward teen loner. He loves ping pong and hip hop. His sister Michelle (Helena Seabrook) is a bitter sarcastic teen. His parents state trooper Brendan (John Hannah) and Crandall (Lea Thompson) are cheapskates. They got a deal on their Ocean City annual summer vacation. He's infatuated with Stacy Summers. Rich kids Lyle Ace and Dale Lyons are picking on him. His new friend Teddy Fryy tells him that his next door neighbor Randi Jammer (Susan Sarandon) is a weirdo but she turns out to be a great mentor.

I really want to root for these kids. I kinda like them in their shy dorky ways. Their story is sweet and a little cliché. I like the popular girl who has a problem. The main drawback are the teen actors. I don't want to say bad things about them but they're mostly amateurs. It shows. Their dialog, their interactions and their general acting abilities are all a bit deficient. Writer/director Michael Tully needs to give Rad another dimension. He needs an awkward sense of humor or something more than just being shy. The adults are fine and I love Hannah and Thompson. Sarandon has some nice moments. Amy Sedaris has a nice fun short section. The kids need a bit more charisma.

This film is weird: deeply original under many respects and unbelievably ordinary under others.

It's the story of a young boy who is initiated to tennis table (and to love) during a summer vacation with his family. The estranging atmosphere of the 80s is depicted very well and the everyday life of a boy from a family with no means is also rendered in a surprisingly realistic way for a comedy.

Everything is nice and funny until you realize that you are watching the most predictable and clichéd plot you can imagine. This will not completely spoil the thing for you but will leave you at least surprised: so many ideas (starting from the head titles in three different styles) and such a poor ending.

Visual stuff, characters and dialogues, however, are too good to shoot this film down.

For those of us who loved Michael Tully's directorial debut, SEPTIEN, it was rather surprising to discover that he had a dream. That dream is PING PONG SUMMER -- a movie so far removed from his directorial debut it is almost impossible to imagine that both were made by the same artist!

There have been a number of movies that have attempted to recreate the 80's in just as many ways. Because this film is written/directed by Michael Tully you might expect that he would create something similar to David Wain's WET HOT American SUMMER … only more twisted. But that is not his intent. But this is no parody. This is not cynical.This is not even an ode to 1980's movies.

PING PONG SUMMER is simply a nostalgic memory of a very specific moment not only in American culture -- but in the life of a 13 year old boy. And guess what, it's not about a boy trying to get laid or having to survive through a traumatic childhood. This is a movie about a slightly awkward kid trying to find a way to assert his identity.

During a family summer vacation, an awkward 13 year old tries to find a way to assert his identity. The only problem is that he is just a bit too young and innocent to understand what that means, Rad ends up having a nice summer. We follow Rad through the summer. Things do happen, but never in an even slightly unbelievable way.

The magic of the movie lies in it's simplicity. We often only see the world through the eyes of a normal kid. And we quite literally re-experience 1985 from his perspective. Hip Hop was just about to break mainstream, Boom-boxes ruled, the Arcade was THE place to be and it was crucial to master the art of achieving the perfect mix for your Icey! Oh, and do remember the obscene amount and choice of food at buffet restaurant?!?!

There is actually a great deal of humor here.,but don't expect generic slapstick or crass humor. The films humor most often sneaks in just below the radar. The funniest moments are are in the way the characters react to the situations and/or comments made by others. Even when Amy Sedaris and Robert Longstreet are introduced as the "looney" aunt and uncle — the humor is not directly aimed at their inappropriate behavior. The funny aspect of this short extended family visit is in the way Rad's family creatively navigates the situation. They are family, after all.

It would be hard for anyone who was between the ages of 12 to 19 in the year of 1985 not enjoy this movie. There was something bittersweet about the movie. It often feels like a memory.

The premise was great. Having grown up in the 80's, when I saw the description I had to watch this movie. The first five minutes really got my hopes up. I love nostalgia and the film was spot on as the director shot it through a mid 80's camera lens. Except for the 1989 police car, (horrible choice) everything was authentic for the most part. But the plot was too formulaic. Too many movie clichés. However, there were some funny moments. This film is only worth watching due to the fact that there's a shortage of new 80's nostalgia films like this. Because it's seen through the eyes of a young teen male, it might only be enjoyable for a guy in his forties today as he might be able to reminisce of his 80's childhood through the film.

This has to be one of the strangest movies I've attempted to watch in a long time. I thought the acting would be better with the cast members present, such as Sarandon and Hannah, but they aren't on screen enough to improve the movie. Growing up in the 80's myself the nostalgia factor was definitely there. When Rad orders a suicide...yep I remember drinking those gross concoctions, lol. The movie had promise, but was more like a balloon with its air let out. If you want to watch an 80's nostalgia movie about an outcast go with The Karate Kid. Or if you want to watch a good outcast movie watch The Way, Way Back. Stay away from this stinker.