Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

There are no winners – just not losers in a simple game of tag that takes not losing to a whole new level. It – is more than just a childhood game.

Every May, a game that started thirty years ago among five friends resumes. It’s the ultimate game of tag, and it’s no laughing matter. It takes strategy, stealthy and stamina to play, and one person has managed to stay reigning champion.

Jerry (Jeremy Renner) has never been tagged. Not once. And just because his wedding day falls in May doesn’t mean he’s about to be caught now.

Unfortunately for Hoagie (Ed Helms), Bob (Jon Hamm), Chilli (Jake Johnson), and Sable (Hannibal Buress), Jerry has decided to retire from the game this season with his title intact. Wedding or no wedding, the guys decide to team up and go down fighting.

To address the most fundamental aspect of this movie: Yes. It was hilarious.

Akin to the likes of Game Night, it was that borderline disbelief that lent to its humor. The fact that a group of grown adults willingly reverted to children for a month every year makes us all that little bit envious – and what tops it off is that it’s based on a true story. #SquadGoals

Jeremy Renner’s face was one of the highlights of Tag. His serene, cocky, psychopathic expression had me both rolling over with laughter, and genuinely concerned for his mental health. Seriously – his commitment to not being tagged is the kind of commitment I wish I could apply to my everyday life.

The framework the movie was built around was really effective. There was a clear goal (tag Jerry), and a ticking clock (before the end of May) and to be honest there was no need for much else. It was a simple movie whose aim was more or less to elicit easy laughs from the the audience, featuring a number of familiar faces used to invoking that response.

There aren’t a lot of downsides to Tag, however the one that immediately comes to mind was the usage (or lack there of ) of journalist Rebecca Crosby played by Annabelle Wallis.

Writing an article for The Wall Street Journal about the groups game of Tag, she was featured so infrequently I forgot she was even following them around.

There was a fun scene where she was interviewing everyone separately as they recalled a childhood incident, and I thought that would have worked as a recurring set up. Or not. But something could have been added to Crosby’s arc within the movie as a whole.

It’s one of those things where you follow continue strongly with a thread, or you cut it out completely.

There’s not much I can add without pretty much relaying the scenes that had me gasping for breath as I embarrassingly laughed out loud.

All I can say is that if you’ve got the time, and are in the mood for something funny, a little different and perfectly ridiculous then…

Tag. You’re it.