Review: Tag

fifty2ndstreet
Jul 5, 2018
2 min read

“A movie about grown men playing tag… this should be fun… right?”

Tag is a movie based on a true life story of a bunch of guys who played a game of tag from childhood into adulthood. That should, result in a light hearted fun movie. It didn’t.

Instantly, this film makes a strange choice. By using hip hop music as a backdrop to the film, which I really don’t get why it did this, the film sets the tone up all wrong and gives the film a bit of an aggressive vibe. It doesn’t help too that then all the characters are written in over the top and mostly not likeable ways.

Ed Helms leads the way and naturally plays the same character he does in all of these types of comedies. His career is very hit and miss and it’s a shame he keeps picking the same types of films. Jon Hamm tries really hard to be a comedic actor, but feels very awkward and stiff.

Jake Johnson plays the stoner crazy character who seems to be invincible when knocked over. Lil Rel Howery has a couple of funny lines, but it feels forced most of the time.

Jeremy Renner seems to be having a lot of fun, but aside from a few Sherlock Homes moments, he isn’t interesting to watch.

Then, throw in Ilsa Fisher, yet again playing an aggressive wife character who yells a lot and can take being physically assaulted as a joke, and you’ve got yourself a rag tag team of characters that you really don’t care about.

The film is way too aggressive, with over the top chase scenes that feature ridiculous violence that doesn’t hurt the characters anywhere near as much as it should. The plot adds in nasty elements from characters as they try to avoid being tagged that do nothing but add a bad flavour to what should be fairly light and fluffy.

And overall, the film just isn’t funny or fun. By the end, you’re glad it’s over, and the best bit of the film begins, when you get a brief bit of footage of the real group doing real tag.