Tag is the “based loosely on a true story” tale of a small group of former classmates who organize an elaborate, annual game of tag with no holds barred. Tag is….a perfectly acceptable comedy aimed at teenagers. Nothing at all wrong with that. I’m just 30 now. I’m older – wiser, more distinguished(!) – and a good teenage comedy has to be very good for me to rave about it. Again, nothing wrong with Tag, but 15 years ago, I would have LOVED this movie. Today, it was good for a chuckle.
Now that you’ve stopped reading because I’m a snob – here me out! Tag has a decent cast with Ed Helms and Jeremy Renner. One thing that’s hard to decipher is how much is real and how much is total BS. I cannot fathom that this entire movie is by the books. If it is, I may change my rating immediately because these guys are crazy!
Do you remember being a kid and playing tag? It was cool, right? We invented “help tag” (I’ll blog about that another day) but it was fun! Then you grow up and you stop playing. Well, the tag line here is “You don’t stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing.” So these friends decide to NEVER stop playing! One month a year (May), Tag is full on. The only issue? These people didn’t live all that close together. The point? To see each other more! So it’s a fun idea that actually gained some traction because of the Wall Street Journal. The best part of the movie was at the end with actual footage of these guys playing tag. Each tag ended with a “you fucker” or something similar. Another brilliant part – no tag backs. So if someone travels a couple hours to tag you, you can’t just tag them back. You have to figure the shit out!
One of the group was a super secret amazing bastard who had never been “it” in 30 years. So the goal this year was to make sure he was “it”. It spurs a journey at the end of May between a group of friends. Ultimately, the ending is rather touching as (spoiler alert) one guys is dying and tried to get his friends together for one last rendezvous. The lengths these guys will go to not be “it” is pretty entertaining, itself. All in all, a good film. Again, I may have liked it better when I was younger – or maybe I’m just mad that I’m not in good enough shape to play Tag anymore….either way.
Seen it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Rating: 6.4/10