Ping Pong Summer

So most of you aren’t going to believe this but I was in this movie. And I will have to admit, it was kinda crappy. Not worth the money.

It's just weird

This took me back to my youth. The Director did an excellent job transporting you back to the ‘80s. I watched this with my daughter and we both enjoyed it. I highly recommend this movie.

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. 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 this is no parody. This is not cynical. This is not even an ode to 1980’s movies. This movie is like a nostalgic memory of a very specific moment in American culture. Hip-Hop was about to break into the mainstream and boom-boxes were cool. The Arcade was where you hung out. And, yeah, there was a certain art in the way one cranked out an Icey. The plot is simple. During a family vacation, an awkward 13 year old is trying to find away to assert his identity. Too young and innocent to have yet figured out what that means, his only concern is Hip Hop and ping pong. He makes a new friend, meets a hot chick, meets a couple of bullies, visits some family, goes out to dinner with his parents, bonds with an eccentric woman who helps him to achieve his ping pong goal. The magic of the movie lies in it’s simplicity of seeing the world through the eyes of a hopeful but uncomfortable 13 year old boy. Michael Tully clearly likes these characters. They may be a bit eccentric, but never so much so that it feels forced, unbelievable or mean-spirited. And, there is actually a great deal of humor here. This is not the generic kind of slapstick / crass humor. Michael Tully’s humor often sneaks in just below the radar. The funniest moments are are normally in the way the characters react to the situations or comments made by another. 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, but more in the way our hero’s family deals with it. They are family, after all. Even the way Tully films an almost never-ending line of scary food at a buffet is hilarious because that was what buffets were like! I find it hard to believe that anyone who was between the ages of 12 to 19 in the year of 1985 would not enjoy this movie. And, major props to Michael Tully and his team — normally I notice too many errors in films that try to capture the 80’s. I only really noticed one (psst — Dad’s car is a 1987 model) …but it didn’t bother me. There was something about the movie that almost felt like a memory.

This is actually a very sweet natured, enjoyable, fun movie. There isn’t a hint of cynicism to be found here, which I personally found refreshing for a change. The style of humour is fairly similar to Napoleon Dynamite, so if you enjoy that style of film you will most likely enjoy this - I actually found this a bit funnier than ND. Great soundtrack, as well! Made me wanna rock out at the ‘Fun Hut’!

I liked it alot just because of the fact that it took place in the 80's also I love ping pong so I absolutely loved this movie

One of the funniest, cheesiest, and greatest movie I have ever seen in my life. Living in Maryland and having been to Ocean City, i noticed that nothing has changed and I love it. Truly a great movie and odd because I knew the kid who hopped the fence in the early minutes of the film hahaha

I have never written a review on iTunes but this movie was so bad that I had to warn others not to rent it. The acting was terrible and the plot was nonexistent. If you're looking for a fix of the 80s then watch the tv show the Goldberg's and skip this crappy movie.

Apple should have made sure this was categorized as an indie. Great example of the genre. Awkward here and there but altogether Ping Pong Summer paints a wonderful portrait of the Maryland Shore scene in the 80's. Also- research Susan Sarandon & Ping Pong... There's a lot of meta-cult references there too!

and tribute to Ocean City, MD