‘Stick’ Review: Owen Wilson’s Wonky Apple Golf Dramedy Struggles to Be the Next ‘Ted Lasso’

In his 2002 special, “Live on Broadway,” the hilarious late comedian and actor Robin Williams imagined the drunken conversations that led to the invention of golf. With his boundless, chaotic energy, he was able to, in just under two minutes, create more earned, clever humor about the sport than the clunky golf dramedy series “Stick” does across ten episodes. The show has plenty of drinking, but little of the freewheeling fun you’d hope for. 

It’s a series that’s clearly aiming to fill the “Ted Lasso” void for Apple TV+, leaning into more forced “feel-good” schmaltz than it does prolonged silliness, though it comes up far short of doing so. Even as it benefits from the reliable, if rather familiar, charm of Owen Wilson and a winning ensemble cast, it can’t overcome an overly sentimental, woefully scattered story that barely holds together. There could be an enjoyable 90-minute comedy hidden away in here, but a full TV season painfully overstretches a standard sports underdog story until you just wish it would call it a day and go home.

Created by Jason Keller, most known for co-writing the fine enough film “Ford v Ferrari” and the far less so “Escape Plan,” “Stick” centers on the washed-up former pro golfer Pryce Cahill (Wilson) as he tries to get his life back together. His wife Amber-Linn (played by a wasted Judy Greer) has left him and has been trying to get him to agree to sell their house after tragedy shattered their marriage. As Pryce spends his days drinking, smoking weed and reminiscing about the past, he encounters Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager), who he immediately sees is a phenomenal talent and the show insistently tells us could be the next Tiger Woods. Pryce then convinces Santi’s mother Elena (Mariana Treviño) to hit the road with him and his friend Mitts (Marc Maron) to give the young kid a chance at golf greatness. 

The show, though not without some promising parts, never comes close to great. Much of this comes down to the way it’s structured as Pryce, who notably is the “Stick” of the title, is the one whose storyline is given the most attention. This isn’t always a bad thing, as Wilson remains a playfully shaggy leading man who isn’t afraid of leaning into the character’s flaws — though the longer the show goes on, the more the writing for everyone else just isn’t quite up to snuff. As we get further into the road trip, the more it becomes clear that this is primarily the Pryce show and everyone else, while given heart by the cast, are merely one-note supporting players. Whenever you think they’ll get a bit more to work with, it’ll always reduce their characters to being predictably defined by singular traits with no depth to them.

Santi, while a teenager still struggling to figure out who he wants to be and deal with being abandoned by his father, is often dragged down by sudden shifts in his emotions that feel less driven by a natural expression of anger than a need for the plot to throw in contrived conflicts. Elena similarly is superficially written, with her motivations resolving solely around protecting Santi and a subplot about wanting to go into business for herself by investing in helium. Ironically, this just ends up floating away and is largely forgotten. 

Mitts is also just kind of there, at least when he isn’t trapped under a bed in what feels less like a goofy bit than it does a way to sideline him and let Stick remain at the center of the story. Even when the show introduces a new character, Lilli Kay’s Zero, who seems like they could carve out some space for more complex interactions, namely by becoming, among many things, Santi’s confidant and caddie, Wilson always takes back the spotlight. 

Even as “Stick” isn’t totally without any strengths — with Dager bringing a believable youthful angst, Treviño a no-nonsense motherly strength, Maron a wonderfully wry grumpiness and Kay a more genuine wit when the show desperately needs it — it gets smothered up in what plays like an odd branding exercise for the sport rather than a full dramedy about people. At one point, we even are treated to a scene built entirely around product placement that, while lightly acknowledged by the show as being a distraction, still takes away from the characters who were already crying out for more moments just to breathe.

That there are also cameos from famous golfers (itself a bit of oxymoron) takes you out of the story without ever putting in the work to bring back in.

When the show then throws in superficial antagonists for Stick and a deeply sad backstory it doesn’t handle with nearly the amount of gentle grace needed to make it work, it’s increasingly difficult to remain invested in the ride. It tries to lean on a whole host of on-the-nose needle drops, just about every sports cliché in the book, and something approaching a more fun hustle near the end, though you never feel like the show’s heart is really in it.

If “Stick” were a golf swing, it would be less of a smooth drive and more of a rushed shank into the trees.

“Stick” premieres Wednesday, June 4, on Apple TV+.

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