On paper, fun and charming. On screen, slapstick built on a one-joke premise
Tag
15 cert, 100 min Dir Jeff Tomsic Starring Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Isla Fisher, Annabelle Wallis, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones
Your tolerance for Tag will likely depend on your tolerance for watching men in various stages of arrested development. Since childhood, friends Hoagie (Ed Helms), Callahan (Jon Hamm), Chili (Jake Johnson), Sable (Hannibal Buress) and Jerry (Jeremy Renner) have spent every May engaged in a no-holdsbarred game of tag, a tradition that over the years has increased its stakes.
The one player never to be tagged? Jerry, whose talent for ninja moves and the recruiting of body doubles has made him untouchable. So much so that as his wedding to the creepily cheery Susan (Leslie Bibb) approaches, the gang pledges to break his untagged record once and for all.
From here on in, Tag descends into a run of elaborate chase sequences and slow-motion acrobatics, with Jerry’s subterfuge leading his friends to question what’s real and what isn’t. A lengthy debate over the credibility of a stress-related miscarriage suffered by Susan marks the film’s low point.
Slapstick silliness abounds but director Jeff Tomsic shies away from the poignancy to be found in men determinedly clinging on to a childhood game. Instead, built on a one-joke premise, his film is forced to rely on the appeal of its cast. Renner looks happy to be the centre of attention after years on the sidelines in comic book movies, and Buress has a couple of decent lines, but there’s a gloomy tiredness plaguing Hamm, Jones, Fisher and Helms.
It’s a shame. Tag’s premise is amusingly weird, with a cinema-ready charm. But in execution it feels a lot like sitting in the dark watching others have a good time. And that’s not much fun at all.