I expected Tag to be a very silly movie. After all, the marketing was firmly based on the joke that this is somehow inspired by a true story. There really is a group of friends out there who have continued a children's game throughout their adult lives, designing elaborate schemes to surprise their fellow competitors. Like I said, very silly. But I didn't expect Tag to be so bizarre, the weirdest kind of comedic concoction. For well over half of its runtime, the Jeff Tomsic-directed comedy is pleasant and likable, mixing crudely funny verbal barbs with a good bit of heart. But when the time arrives for the film to stick the landing, it takes a complete nosedive. In a way, it's an appropriate faceplant for a movie that's full of people hurting themselves. Tomsic and screenwriters Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen spend much of their time setting up decent characters and amusing situations, only for it all to burn down when it counts most.
Since they were young boys in Spokane, Washington, Hoagie Malloy (Ed Helms) and his friends have played a crazy and dangerous game of tag during the month of May. As the film begins, Hoagie reunites with Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), who is now a powerful business executive being interviewed by Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis). While Rebecca was originally there to talk about Callahan's business, she immediately switches gears once she learns about the group's annual game. Hoagie insists that he has a plan to get Jerry (Jeremy Renner), who has never been tagged in the history of the game. They'll have to travel to Spokane for Jerry's wedding, preparing an all-out assault for when their friend expects it least.
Along with Callahan and Rebecca, Hoagie assembles his uber-competitive wife Anna (Isla Fisher), stoner buddy Chili (Jake Johnson), and neurotic Sable (Hannibal Buress) for a trip back home. But if you thought getting Jerry would be easy....think again. The friendly battle between friends turns into an all-out war, and things get pretty hairy as the hunt for Jerry continues. And to be honest, the more ridiculous Tag gets, the more fun you'll have. Watching Jerry's sixth sense pay off in comically violent ways is consistently amusing, and the intricate schemes designed by Hoagie and his friends provide great fodder for laughs. As a pure generator of laughs, the script works quite well.
And when you have a cast this good, it's pretty difficult to outright dislike the movie. Ed Helms is the crazed anchor of the entire endeavor, further enhanced by Isla Fisher's near-maniacal performance as his wife. Some of the strongest comedic moments come from Hannibal Buress and Jake Johnson, who continue to impress in both supporting and lead roles. Then there's Jon Hamm, a brilliant performer who keeps pushing himself in fun and engaging directions. He's great here, and I would watch him in basically any comedy possible. Jeremy Renner doesn't get many laughs, but he serves his purpose as the group's formidable karate mastermind.
However, even with such a tremendous ensemble of talented, funny individuals, Tag runs into a brick wall. It's the rare case where it is possible to have too much talent, simply because it doesn't give anyone room to show off their skills with a fully developed character. There's a general arc about the binding ties of friendship and love, but Tag strikes out in so many other ways that it drags the story down. One character is revealed to be an alcoholic, then it's never discussed again. Rashida Jones enters the fray as a love interest for Callahan and Chili, but there's no resolution to that subplot. A medical diagnosis comes out of left field in the final moments, only for the film to leave that character's fate completely up in the air. Annabelle Wallis perhaps suffers the most out of the entire cast, left to just stand around and watch the mayhem unfold. All the talent in the world can't bring life to such one-dimensional people.
Tag takes a dark turn in its finale, yet it seemingly doesn't truly consider what that darkness means for its sense of tonal consistency. Sure, you can make jokes about miscarriages and tumors, but if you have nothing substantial to say about the significance of that dark humor, it doesn't work. While the movie thinks it has something profound to say about friendship and childhood, Tomsic and the screenwriters can't come up with anything substantial in the finale. They've set up too many plot threads and character arcs to resolve in a tidy manner, so they just wrap it all up and call it a day. It's a baffling conclusion to a movie that's fairly hilarious for much of its runtime, delivering jokes and amiable chemistry at a rapid clip. It's too bad that Tag can't hold its effective pieces together in a satisfying fashion.
THE FINAL GRADE: C+ (6.1/10)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros./New Line
Since they were young boys in Spokane, Washington, Hoagie Malloy (Ed Helms) and his friends have played a crazy and dangerous game of tag during the month of May. As the film begins, Hoagie reunites with Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), who is now a powerful business executive being interviewed by Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis). While Rebecca was originally there to talk about Callahan's business, she immediately switches gears once she learns about the group's annual game. Hoagie insists that he has a plan to get Jerry (Jeremy Renner), who has never been tagged in the history of the game. They'll have to travel to Spokane for Jerry's wedding, preparing an all-out assault for when their friend expects it least.
Along with Callahan and Rebecca, Hoagie assembles his uber-competitive wife Anna (Isla Fisher), stoner buddy Chili (Jake Johnson), and neurotic Sable (Hannibal Buress) for a trip back home. But if you thought getting Jerry would be easy....think again. The friendly battle between friends turns into an all-out war, and things get pretty hairy as the hunt for Jerry continues. And to be honest, the more ridiculous Tag gets, the more fun you'll have. Watching Jerry's sixth sense pay off in comically violent ways is consistently amusing, and the intricate schemes designed by Hoagie and his friends provide great fodder for laughs. As a pure generator of laughs, the script works quite well.
And when you have a cast this good, it's pretty difficult to outright dislike the movie. Ed Helms is the crazed anchor of the entire endeavor, further enhanced by Isla Fisher's near-maniacal performance as his wife. Some of the strongest comedic moments come from Hannibal Buress and Jake Johnson, who continue to impress in both supporting and lead roles. Then there's Jon Hamm, a brilliant performer who keeps pushing himself in fun and engaging directions. He's great here, and I would watch him in basically any comedy possible. Jeremy Renner doesn't get many laughs, but he serves his purpose as the group's formidable karate mastermind.
However, even with such a tremendous ensemble of talented, funny individuals, Tag runs into a brick wall. It's the rare case where it is possible to have too much talent, simply because it doesn't give anyone room to show off their skills with a fully developed character. There's a general arc about the binding ties of friendship and love, but Tag strikes out in so many other ways that it drags the story down. One character is revealed to be an alcoholic, then it's never discussed again. Rashida Jones enters the fray as a love interest for Callahan and Chili, but there's no resolution to that subplot. A medical diagnosis comes out of left field in the final moments, only for the film to leave that character's fate completely up in the air. Annabelle Wallis perhaps suffers the most out of the entire cast, left to just stand around and watch the mayhem unfold. All the talent in the world can't bring life to such one-dimensional people.
Tag takes a dark turn in its finale, yet it seemingly doesn't truly consider what that darkness means for its sense of tonal consistency. Sure, you can make jokes about miscarriages and tumors, but if you have nothing substantial to say about the significance of that dark humor, it doesn't work. While the movie thinks it has something profound to say about friendship and childhood, Tomsic and the screenwriters can't come up with anything substantial in the finale. They've set up too many plot threads and character arcs to resolve in a tidy manner, so they just wrap it all up and call it a day. It's a baffling conclusion to a movie that's fairly hilarious for much of its runtime, delivering jokes and amiable chemistry at a rapid clip. It's too bad that Tag can't hold its effective pieces together in a satisfying fashion.
THE FINAL GRADE: C+ (6.1/10)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros./New Line
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