A chance to see Susan Sarandon as the Mr. Miyagi of table tennis and Lea Thompson of “Back to the Future’’ briefly reunited with a DeLorean are the main assets of Michael Tully’s mild tribute to the 1980s — the decade that just won’t go away.

Marcello Conte plays a geeky, pingpong loving 13-year-old who finds a new pal (Myles Massey) and a potential girlfriend (Emmi Shockley) when he arrives in Ocean City, Md., for a vacation — during the summer of 1985 with his parents (Thompson and John Hannah of “The Mummy’’) and goth older sister (Helena Seabrook).

Our hero challenges a rich bully (Joseph McCaughtry) to an amusement center showdown that requires lots of coaching by an eccentric neighborhood woman (Sarandon), who happens to be a former table tennis champ. “Ping Pong Summer’’ certainly nails the era, right down to a lengthy pan across a none-too-appealing dinner buffet.