Tag

Childhood friends reuniting for hanging out like the good old days is a familiar but nice idea to explore in comedies. These movies allow some wacky antics to be explored by the lengths the characters are willing to go to follow and complete a tradition that might never have been achieved, has been something that have kept them together as a unit, or allows them to feel young and hopeful following the hardships of their normal adult lives. Variations of this are found in classics such as The World's End, which had a style of its own while letting the actors chemistry and the clever writing deliver a great time. This brings us to Tag, a comedy that's actually inspired by the true story of childhood friends who play the same game of tag once a year. The marketing for this made it look like it was silly enough to make for a good hangout time with friends. I managed to attend an advanced screening for Tag last week ready to see if it can deliver the laughs and left it impressed that it was better than it deserved to be while sharing the pros and cons of Game Night (a great comedy from this year).

Plot: The adventure follows a group of friends whose efforts to tag one of their own that has never been tagged are threatened when he might be quitting after his wedding. The story is wise enough to know what elements need more of the screen time and manages to get the group of 4 friends united in the first 15 minutes in order to get to the conflict with fast smooth pacing along the way. The strategies used here are ridiculous and hilarious to watch as they grown men are acting childish in trying to reach the goal. The thrilling competitive nature of the game is nice to watch in terms of how much property damage the guys cause whether its in a private domain or out in public places.

However, much like Game Night, there are some noticeable problems holding it back but even more by comparison. There are plenty of jokes going on and they can be hit or miss (though I need to give it a rewatch since there was so much laughter from the audience, it was hard to hear a some jokes). There's also a lazy subplot that slows the momentum of the film where chemistry between of the actors is lacking in a cliched love triangle. The story doesn't actually tell more about the connection between the group of friends and their skilled buddy they are trying to tag. They could have added a scene or two to elaborate more on that bond to further solidify the friendship and chemistry. The misdirection that also occurs throughout kind of gets in the way of the ending scene where it attempts to show some emotion.

Characters: The people to focus on are Hogan (Ed Helms) and Jerry (Jeremy Renner). Hogan is the determined de facto leader of four trying to break Jerry's winning streak after years of failures on that end. Ed does a great job in not only driving the plot forward and acting like an underdog but also managing to be likable in a lead role that doesn't have him screaming hyper actively in his previous works. Jerry is the targeted member whose prepared for any attempts to get tagged and has many surprises up his sleeve. Jeremy is having the most amount of fun he's probably ever had in his career as a slick cool guy whose training from Marvel has made him unstoppable.

Honorable mentions go to Bob (John Hamm), Chili (Jake Johnson), and Kevin (Hannibal Burgess) for their comedic timing, charm, and chemistry they share with one another (though the latter of the three isn't really needed for anything plot related). A special scene stealing mention goes to Anna (Isla Fisher) Dishonorable mentions goes to Susan (Leslie Bibb) and Cheryl (Rashida Jones) for the formers overacting that become too much for the cliched role she has while the latter didn't have chemistry with John Hamm during the lackluster subplot.

Overall Consensus: Tag is a fun friend hangout movie with good cast chemistry, funny action bits, and some good jokes but struggles with cliched storylines and some lackluster gags. ⭑⭑⭑1/2🍿🎟 Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You enjoy friend hangout comedies. You want to see adults acting childish and competitive. You don't mind some obvious gags

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You are annoyed with friend hangout comedies. You don't want to see adults acting childish and competitive. You find obvious jokes lame.

Coming up next: June has been relatively positive so far staying away from the blockbuster flicks. Tag and Ocean's 8 were entertaining and serviceable in their own right but now the time has come to return to the anticipated movies of the year. It looks like the animation department is going back into full gear again as we return to a long awaited sequel from Pixar-Disney. Tune in next time as Screening Spectacles will watch and review the followup we've waited 14 years for, The Incredibles 2!!