‘What a Racquet!’ Misses Its Shots

Unless you collect bad jokes about geriatric sex, avoid at all costs “What a Racquet!,” the new comedy at Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.

What a snooze. Naomi Karz Jacobs’ script follows Pearl and Mort Phillips (Edith Fields and Steve Franken), a 60-ish couple facing a retirement quandary when they lose the lease on their Marina del Rey condominium. Ostensibly to save the pair from moving to Leisure World, Mort’s tennis buddies hatch a harebrained scheme to trick Pearl into reviving her long-dormant acting career.

This business would be stretched awfully thin in a half-hour sitcom, let alone in a two-hour comedy. But then who needs a story when the characters have no personalities? Virtual refugees from a Medicare supplement ad, these bland-as-butter Westside seniors exist largely as mouthpieces for coarse, numbingly unfunny jabs at gynecologists, plastic surgery and Jewish culture. Where’s Neil Simon when you need him?

The ensemble, which includes such solid TV comedy vets as Frank Bonner and Wendie Jo Sperber, deserves far better than both the script and director Jules Aaron’s unimaginative staging. In tennis, they’d call this a double fault.

* “What a Racquet!,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends May 12. $18.50-$22.50. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 2 hours.