Blu-ray/DVD Review: TAG (2018) - Nightmarish Conjurings

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

TAG is about a group of adults who have been playing the same game of tag since they were kids. It is loosely based off a true story. The real gentlemen have been playing since 1990. In the movie there are five friends while in real life, the group is ten.

TAG was a fun movie full of laughs, but it wasn’t anything special. The actual footage of the real-life men playing tag and jumping from behind cars and bushes or disguising themselves was highly entertaining to watch for a few minutes before the credits rolled. Their story was published in the Wall Street Journal in 2013, which is where the idea for the movie came from.

The film starts out with Hogan aka Hoagie (Ed Helms) applying for a janitorial job. We soon learn it is all a ploy to tag Callahan (Jon Hamm) who is being interviewed by Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis).

Hoagie succeeds but tells Callahan one of their friends, Jerry (Jeremy Renner) is “retiring” from the game due to his wedding. Crosby decides to follow the game of tag and write a story about it.

Hoagie, Callahan and Jerry have been playing the same game of tag for close to 30 years with their other friends Chilli (Jack Johnson) and Sable (Hannibal Buress). They play from May 1 to June 1 every year. Last one “it” once June 1st rolls around, is deemed the “loser” and is “it” once the game starts up again the following May 1st.

Jake Johnson plays the roll everyone knows him for, and of course his pothead character delivered plenty of good one-liners just from him acting stupid and thinking Jerry’s wedding is a rendition of the Truman Show. Comedian Hannibal Buress played the odd one of the group and he would slide in a few strange lines in each scene that drew some laughs too.

Ed Helms and Jon Hamm were their usual selves and of course they can make people laugh in their own way. Helms’ character Hoagie was married to Anna (Isla Fisher) who took the game a little too seriously and all the boys said she was “too intense.”

Jerry (Jeremy Renner) had yet to be tagged in the history of the game, and throughout the movie, we see why. He performs some insane acrobatics and implements wildly effective defense fighting tactics that render all the men useless. In each of these scenes, the movie goes into slow-motion and Renner narrates what is happening. These ended up being really entertaining.

The tag chase scenes were all fun and the movie itself was very fun until it took a dark turn later, but this turn, which I won’t spoil, ended up bringing the group even closer together. The final chase scene was heartwarming and very fun, especially because everyone was involved.

Overall TAG, like I said, was fun and definitely entertaining, but it wasn’t anything spectacular or special. I was never cracking up, but I did laugh quite a bit. It’s worth a watch, but it isn’t a comedy I will find myself re-watching.

TAG is now available to own on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, and Digital