Tag (2018)

Tag (2018)

3/10

Starring

Ed Helms

Jake Johnson

Annabelle Wallis

Jon Hamm

Jeremy Renner

Directed by Jeff Tomsic

The idea of making a movie based on a true-life story published in The Wall Street Journal must have sounded great on paper. On screen, however, the movie is painfully boring. The whole thing sounds silly when you think about it, but it is fun if you are living it. The comedy doesn’t hit hard enough to make you laugh out loud, and the parts meant to be funny might just put you to sleep.
The cinematography is nothing special, the effects are annoying, and the attempts to tag Jerry (Jeremy Renner) are downright pathetic. Honestly, this whole movie feels like a waste of valuable time. The acting isn’t spectacular, and there are no memorable moments—just scenes you wish you hadn’t seen.
To make matters worse, the writers could have done a much better job with a story about a group of grown men (played by Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner) who take a month off every year to play a game of tag.

The movie kicks off when one of the group reveals that Jerry, the only one who’s never been “IT” in their decades-long game, is planning to quit. This motivates the rest of the squad—along with a Wall Street Journal writer—to team up and finally tag Jerry. The writer, who was initially interviewing one of the men, gets caught up in their plan and decides to write about their game instead.

The plan seems simple: tag Jerry and end his reign as the untouchable champion.
Jerry is about to get married, and the group believes this is the perfect time to catch him off guard, thinking his focus will be on the wedding rather than the game. They’re wrong. Jerry is fully prepared and goes to extreme lengths to ensure he never gets tagged.
Things get messy in many ways, like the introduction of a woman who was a former love interest to two of the men (a subplot that feels completely unnecessary). The group also engages in psychological games, all in the name of tag.

My advice? Save your money and skip this one. If you’re looking for comedy, there are far better options out there. Or, if you’re really curious, just go to a park and watch kids play tag for real (please make sure they are your kids, you do not want to freak people out). You’ll get more entertainment watching kids play for free than sitting through this dragged-out, hour-and-a-half-long movie.