Pickle Perfect

Long returns to the pickleball court (after 2024’s Pickleballers) for a delightful second-chance romance with heart. After high school teacher and single mother Lulu Gardner accidentally sends a recording of herself cursing to all of her students via malfunctioning educational software, she’s suspended from work indefinitely, freeing her up to accompany her Aunt Laverne and Uncle Rooster on their “Costa Rican pickleball vacation,” with her three-year-old daughter, Zoe, in tow. Their last-minute addition to the trip hits a snag when the resort doesn’t have rooms for them. The concierge recommends that Lulu take the open slot in a pickleball adventure cohort traveling throughout the country. This brings her face-to-face with her teenage love turned pickleball champ, Tyler Demming, whom she hasn’t seen since he broke her heart 15 years earlier. As the pair travel and compete together, old feelings reignite, but can Lulu forgive and forget? Long makes her characters easy to root for, and adorable Zoe steals every scene she’s in. The Costa Rican backdrop and fast-paced action on the pickleball court add to the fun. This charms. (Oct.)