Hello!
And welcome to the review of Tag, or what Hawkeye was doing instead of fighting Thanos!
IMDb summary: A small group of former classmates organize an elaborate, annual game of tag that requires some to travel all over the country.
- Tag was written by Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen (two fairly unknown writers), based on a true story about 5 friends, who have been playing tag for 3 decades. A lot of the developments in the story were embellished and exaggerated for the movie, however, a lot of the core elements o the narrative were actually true as the real footage during the credits proves. You know what else felt real about this comedy? Its sincere message.
- I loved the focus on adult friendship in the film and the message that growing up doesn’t have to mean losing the fun in life or growing apart. I highly appreciated that misquoted quote “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” too (I do love cheesy words of wisdom, have a whole board o them on my wall). In addition to a nice message, the film’s humor also worked mostly because it also felt real – the banter between the friends, the inside jokes, the blasts from the past were all familiar and relatable elements for the audience.
- Jeff Tomsic directed Tag and did a great job with his cinematic debut (his previous work has mostly been TV related). Tag had a weird ‘we are taking this way too seriously’ tone that was self-referential and tongue-in-cheek rather than annoying or cringe-y. The style o the action scenes, which were exciting and entertaining, was also very fitting and displayed a good usage of slow-mo and voice-over combination.
- A big reason why this movie worked was its cast and the chemistry between them. Ed Helms, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress made characters with little development be seen as three-dimensional humans. This was probably Helms best performance I have seen in a couple of years, while Renner (MI5, Wind River, Arrival) seemed like he was having so much fun with the role (way more than he appears to have when he is playing Hawkeye). Hamm’s (Baby Driver) and Johnson’s (The Mummy) characters worked well as competitors of sorts, while Buress (Blockers) commentary was top-notch.
- On the supporting/female front we had Annabelle Wallis (The Mummy) as the clear-headed outsider (I liked that she wasn’t portrayed as too serious or judgemental) and Isla Fisher (who was a bit crazy but so much fun. Her comedic chops should definitely be appreciated more than they are).
In short, Tag is an entertaining and sincere comedy that might not be a must-watch but makes for a great time.
Rate: 4/5
Trailer: Tag trailer
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