Tag (2018) Review

"Never been tagged.  Just sayin'."
-Jerry Pierce



For 30 years, a group of childhood friends have been playing the same game of Tag for the entire month of May without fail, even though they live in separate states.  With only a few days left of May, Hoagie (Ed Helms) informs the others that Jerry (Jeremy Renner), the best player of the group and the only one who has never been tagged has decided to retire.  Hoagie discovers that Jeremy is getting married on May 31st and kept it secret to avoid being tagged.  The group travels to their hometown to try and defeat Jerry once and for all.


What Works:

First off, the chemistry between this group is great.  I believed that these guys were friends and really cared about each other, using the game to stay close when life tries to keep them apart.  They seem like a fun group of guys and they mdke me want to play tag with them.

The tag sequences themselves are a lot of fun.  Jeremy Renner gives a solid-gold performance as he escapes from the others.  His voice-over narration is fantastic and watching the others try to outsmart him is a lot of fun, because he is always at least a step ahead.  These sequences fully deliver on the premise and each is memorable is their own way.

Isla Fischer is hilarious in this movie.  She isn't in the game, but encourages it fully and gets super intense.  She gets way more into it than any of the others.  It's hilarious and perfectly over-the-top.

Finally, this movie gets dark, which I'll get into below.  Fortunately, the final sequence really lightens the move, and we get one final tag sequence before we get some real life footage from the game of tag this movie is based on.  We get to see some actual tags and although they are much simpler than the fictionalized version, they are a lot of fun.  It makes me want to grab some friends and play this game ourselves.


What Sucks:

First off, not all of the humor lands.  There are plenty of jokes that fall flat and some (mostly the weed jokes) are overused.  

The movie also gets too dark in some spots.  I was having a lot of fun with this movie into a certain storyline involving Jerry's fiancé, Susan (Leslie Bibb) gets brought into the mix.  It felt over the line and really deflated the enjoyment I was having, and it continues throughout the rest of the movie.  It's too much and they should have toned it down.

Finally, the love triangle between Bob (Jon Hamm), Chilli (Jake Johnson), and Cheryl (Rashida Jones) was a complete waste of time.  It wasn't enjoyable at all and it really didn't get resolved in a satisfying manner.  Every time it was brought up, I just wanted to get back to the game.


Verdict:

Tag is a movie with an excellent premise and executes it well, unfortunately, it bogs the movie down with darkness, unfunny jokes, and an unnecessary love triangle.  But the action sequences, Jeremy Renner, Isla Fischer, and the cast's chemistry makes up for the rest, and I will say that Tag has got it going on.

 7/10: Good 

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