Tag
Cert: 16; Now showing
Another year, another menbehaving-badly Hangover-style romp that stretches its thin premise out to breaking point.
This time around, it’s a bunch of man-children playing a hotly contested month-long game of tag annually into their childless (key) middle years.
That’s right, with nary a nappy nor an ear thermometer in sight, assorted lugs Ed Helms (the well-meaning one), Jeremy Renner (the edgy one), Jon Hamm (the corporate cad), Jake Johnson (the stoner) and Hannibal Buress (dimmest of the dim) are off the leash to do mischief on one another and learn a thing or two about friendship and ageing and other important stuff en route.
Debutant Jeff Tomsic does his best with this film adaptation ofa Wall Street Journal article about a real-life case of such a game.
There are just not enough guffaws here because, well, the joke — men chasing/slapping/ hugging each other — is spent too quickly.
Some lines, especially those uttered by Buress or Isla Fisher (as the wife of Helms’s character) nosedive entirely. Sorry, Tag, but you’re not it at all. ★★ HILARY A WHITE