Director: Jeff Tomsic
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Isla Fisher, Nora Dunn, Jeremy Renner, Hannibal Buress, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones, Thomas Middleditch, Lil Rey Howery
Description: A small group of classmates organize an elaborate, annual game of tag that requires some travel all over the country.
Review: “Tag” is based on a true story, but this fact should not be taken too seriously. The starting point of a few friends in their forties who have been playing tag for years and who are perhaps even more fanatical about it in adulthood than as children, is indeed as it was noted in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ in 2013. But that doesn’t alter the fact that the characters in the film have virtually nothing to do with the member of the real club of friends and hardly any scenes reflect passages from the article. Just the fact that adult men have been playing tag since childhood was enough to create this film, because the film would have been the same if it was a completely new idea.
There is nothing wrong with that, by the way. Every story can be an inspiration for a film, but not everything that has been taken from life should become a prestigious Oscar drama. So it’s a good idea to simply make a fun comedy about five childhood friends who have grown apart in the usual way, but who manage to maintain their friendship by playing tag one full month a year.
There is not much to be done with the simple starting point, but thematically there is something to work with. Most of the men in the story pretty much all got their lives together, but simple keep playing tag for childhood sentiment’s sake. And that’s okay. But there is no room for any depth.
It's clear that “Tag” want to be nothing more than a simple comedy, and in doing so, it’s doing a pretty nice job. This is mainly due to the workable approach that one of the five men has never been tagged. This resulting in the other four players trying to end his record. Easier said than done, because he is probably the best tagger ever.
I think the best element of the film is the casting. Jeremy Renner is cast well as Jerry, the unbeatable one. And Ed Helms, Isla Fisher, Jake Johnson and Hannibal Buress really belong in a movie like this. Jon Hamm feels a little out of place, but that’s nothing that would bother you.
I could compare “Tag” to “Game Night”, which was a lot better on so many levels. But “Tag” is an entertaining, enjoyable and funny enough for a fun movie night.
Rating: 3 / 5
