The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Sure, ‘Tag’ is immature and crass, but comedy also finds a sweetness
‘Tag’ a mostly hilarious comedy inspired by real men who for years have played the game to remain close
“Tag” is a fairly raunchy comedy, one with a plot element that can be seen as at least borderline-offensive.
And yet there is this sweetness that permeates it, generated by its fun, basedon-a-true-story premise: A group of lifelong friends try to stay close by playing tag — yes, the “you’re-it” game you played when you were 5 — one month each year.
Oh, and did we mention the ensemble affair is funny? “Tag” is FUNNY.
Again, at least most of the time.
It begins with Ed Helms’ Hogan “Hoagie” Malloy, a physician, interviewing for a janitorial position at a large company. His interviewer (Lil Rel Howery, who was so funny in “Get Out” and who makes the most of his brief time here) is perplexed by why someone so obviously overqualified would want the gig, but he hires him anyway.
Why Hoagie wants the job is simple: It will afford him the opportunity to tag his buddy Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), who runs the company. And boy does Hoagie pick his spot. When Bob is giving an interview to Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis of “Peaky Blinders”), Hoagie, wearing a wig, enters the room to clean it and, with his back to his friend, begins to make really loud noises as he begins his custodial work. Bob, upon realizing what is afoot, quickly becomes more concerned with not being tagged than with continuing the interview to promote his company.
“Now this is happening!” he tells Hoagie before throwing a chair against the glass wall between himself and the hallway.
The chair bounces back off the wall and knocks him down. He soon is “it.”
Hoagie isn’t simply there to tag Bob, however. He’s also gone through all this to recruit him. Like Bob and fellow friends Randy “Chilli” Cilliano (Jake Johnson) and Kevin Sable (Hannibal Buress), Hoagie has never tagged the fifth member of their group, Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner). Pierce is fierce — for years he has stayed on high alert during tag season and often has found ways to inflict pain on his buddies when they’ve tried to get him.
Hoagie sees a real opportunity this year, as Jerry will be getting married in their hometown during May, which is tag season. Unfortunately for Jerry, his fiancee, Susan Rollins (Leslie Bibb), wants to stick with her family’s tradition of May weddings.
Although Jerry didn’t invite any of the guys to the festivities, he knew they would show. And when they do, he’s ready, becoming something akin to a tag Terminator, processing each approaching threat with computer-like precision. It’s fun stuff.
Soon, an amendment is made to their tag agreement — yes, it’s all very official — allowing the guys to attend certain wedding-related festivities, during which Jerry cannot be tagged. At other times, though, he’s fair game.
Frequently enough, “Tag” is uproariously funny, such as when Hoagie attempts to get Jerry at the mall where he works as a fitness trainer.
It also has heart, with the guys regularly reminding each other of a famous George Bernard Shaw quote: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
That the movie’s emotional component works is not all that surprising considering Rob McKittrick (“Waiting”) and Mark Steilen (TV’s “Mozart in the Jungle”) based “Tag” on a real group of guys who have been playing the game for years and who were featured in a Wall Street Journal article, “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It” by Russell Adams. Lots of liberties have been taken with the story — there are more guys in the real group, and they play in February — but the essence and spirit of the idea seems to have made it to the big screen.
Although he stumbles a bit late, as “Tag” goes from the aforementioned questionable plot development to another that tries to hit you emotionally, Jeff Tomsic (Comedy Central’s “Broad City”) does a pretty nice job in his feature debut. “Tag” is well-paced, and this game never grows stale.
It helps to have cast members such as the very funny Helms (“The Hangover” trilogy), who serves as the movie’s emotional center. Hamm (“Mad Men,” “Baby Driver”) is, well, himself, but he’s a nice counterbalance to Helms. Johnson’s Chilli, meanwhile, basically is a stoner version of the actor’s “New Girl” character, Nick, and he’s good for several laughs. The same can’t be said for Buress (“Blockers”), the comic sharing no chemistry with the other guys and earning far fewer chuckles. Buress worked with Tomsic on “Broad City,” and you have to wonder if that’s the only reason he was cast.
There is this sweetness that permeates it, generated by its fun, based-on-a-true-story premise: A group of lifelong friends try to stay close by playing tag — yes, the “you’re-it” game you played when you were 5 — one month each year.
And Renner (“Wind River,” several Marvel Studios films) is a joy as this man obsessed with remaining untagged. Renner sells it when Jerry begins to realize his pristine record may have cost him something in the friendship department over the years.
While this certainly is a bromance of sorts, Bibb (“The Babysitter”) and Rashida Jones (who shared time on NBC’s “The Office” with Helms), as a longtime crush of Bob and Chilli, are enjoyable. However, the real knockout is Isla Fisher, as Hoagie’s highly aggressive wife, Anna. While Anna is forbidden from playing in the game, she is Bill Belichick to Hoagie’s Tom Brady — only, you know, kind of nuts.
With its constant use of four-letter words and some crass gags, it would be easy to dismiss “Tag” as just another sophomoric romp. Ultimately, it’s something more than that, even if, as we await the next truly great comedy, it isn’t quite “it.”