Tag

Tag

Starring Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress

Directed by Jeff Tomsic

The Story:
Lifelong friends Hoagie (Ed Helms), Bob (Jon Hamm), Chilli (Jake Johnson), Sable (Hannibal Buress), and Jerry (Jeremy Renner) have been playing a game of Tag every May since they were kids.  Jerry has never been tagged, and is planning on retiring from the game having never been tagged, so Hoagie gathers the friends together during Jerry's wedding week in hopes of finally tagging the elusive friend.  What ensues is an adventure of a lifetime for the friends as they face their own mortality, struggling with not wanting to grow up, and the pressures of real life that they try to ignore.

The Synopsis:
"Tag" is surprisingly an actual true-life story of ten friends who've played the game of tag since they were children, and as adults continue the tradition.  It's heartening to see a group of grown men who are able to just have a child-like mind for a month and have fun like they used to, before the rat race and life's pressures pushed them down.  It also speaks to the power of friendship, and the importance of having people you can trust and care about in your life.

The film, however, doesn't really make you feel that way, although it's explicitly stated several times throughout the movie.  Instead, it seems that this group of friends aren't really all that friendly anymore, and the game has become more a chore and has turned the group of friends into sociopaths.  Gone is the child-like fun they experienced, and now it's all about tagging the untaggable.  While there's several moments of laughter, the film drags on as they move from one outlandish set piece to another, never really growing up or developing as characters - until the end, which comes out of left field so abruptly it's like you just got slapped in the face by the characters to designate you as the next person who's "it."

The film delivers on slapstick comedy as well as you'd expect, but even that becomes old and stale about halfway through the film.  Typically, I'm very stoic on comedies because they maintain the same old routine, and "Tag" is no different - it's easily forgettable and would've been better relegated to a Comedy Central special.  We get moments of hilarity sprinkled throughout with each scene being something nearly independent of the others, with the same outcome happening every time.

There was another comedy released this year, called "Game Night," that broke the mold for comedies in my opinion.  Not only did it have an impressive cast, but the concept was well written and kept me entertained from start to finish.  With "Tag," there's none of that nuanced performances or thoughtful story, it pretty much recycles itself during each scene.  Yes, we know Jerry has never been tagged.  Yes, we know you're planning on tagging him.  Yes, we know this game has kept you together all these years.  We don't need to be told that every ten minutes.

It's a shame because the actors are so well-known and respected, to see them resort to this type of drivel is almost insulting.  Ed Helms is in his element here, but not even his typical brand of everyman humor can save this film.  Jon Hamm takes an interesting turn to comedy here, but generally falls flat, especially with the pointless side-story about a lost love that both he and Jake Johnson's character pined for.  Speaking of Johnson, he becomes irritating and grating about a third of the way through, as his character is the stoner loser type who always talks about being stoned and a loser.  Hannibal Buress gives a decent performance, as his deadpan humor echoes the inner me as I watched the film, wondering how this film could've been made in the first place.

Jeremy Renner's character is the true sociopath of the group, and makes you wonder how he could have any friends in the first place.  Cocky and arrogant, he resorts to jumping out of windows, unleashing Medieval-style weapons, and trapping his friends in nets for humor.  We get it: he's untaggable.  You don't have to make him a jerk in the process.  Yet that's exactly what happens, especially near the end, where the twists come out of nowhere leaving you scratching your head wondering why they went in that direction, especially with the abrupt ending.

The true shining star in the film is Isla Fisher, who plays Ed Helm's wife.  Having not met Hoagie until after childhood, she can't participate in the game (as stated in the rules the boys made when they were nine), but she's easily the most intense out of all of them.  She uses her comedy to full effect, and truly was the only character I found myself laughing with on a consistent basis.  Then there's Annabelle Wallis, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was supposed to investigate Jon Hamm's character's seemingly unethical practices, but instead finds the story of a decades-old game of tag more interesting.

The Summary:
Through and through, "Tag" isn't as funny as it is comically tragic.  The waste of acting talent coupled with a muddied story and off-putting progression makes you feel uneven after it ends, and doesn't deliver the laughs like it's supposed to.

The Score: C-