The latest in a series of writers highlighting underseen streaming films singles out an affecting
comedy drama about an unusual scenario
The opening credits of Paddleton play over images of its dual protagonists, Michael (Mark Duplass) and Andy (Ray Romano), hitting a
Tennis ball against the back of an expansive drive-in movie screen, with the goal of bouncing it into a garbage can situated between them. It’s the invented sport the film is named after, and an apt metaphor for the artistic goals of Mark and his brother Jay Duplass, who have been producing low-budget intimate dramas for the last 15 years. Their films, which include The Puffy Chair, Jeff Who Lives at Home and Cyrus, occasionally play on the big screen, but that’s not where they belong, and neither does Paddleton, their first in a four-picture production deal with
Netflix. It should be watched in your living room, where you can ugly-cry without embarrassment.
Related: My streaming gem: why you should watch The Stranger