I was extremely excited to see the movie “Tag” after I viewed its trailer during the previews of almost every other movie I saw in theaters.
From the trailer, I could immediately tell that “Tag” was supposed to be hilarious, and I thought that the movie’s extremely unique plotline really strengthened its chance of being a successful comedy.
The film, based on a true story, follows a group of childhood friends who play an intense game of tag every year during the month of May. What makes their game so unique is that the group of childhood friends consists of five grown men that are all living in different parts of the United States taking extreme measures to tag their friends.
When the characters learn that one of their friends is getting married in May, they group up and fly across the country to take their chance and tag him.
It was not only the film’s great advertisements and strange plot that excited me, but also its extremely well-known cast.
The film featured “Avengers” star Jeremy Renner, “New Girl” actor Jake Johnson, “The Office” and “The Hangover” actor Ed Helms, as well as Jon Hamm, Annabelle Wallis, Isla Fisher, Rashida Jones and Hannibal Buress.
Seeing all of these well-known actors work together was, no doubt, strange at first, but I thought the outcome of their work was largely successful.
The actors were all amazing and not one person caused the film to lack. If anything, the writing, which was done by Mark Steilen and Rob McKittrick, was the main cause of all the slow points in the movie.
The film’s writing fluctuated from extremely funny to not so funny. Although the writing was not bad in the slightest, there were some points that were simply just not as funny as the others. But, at times the whole theater was laughing out loud.
All of the characters were extremely well developed, yet the film’s plot was somewhat unrealistic at points. Many of the things that occurred were extremely elaborate and too complex for a comedy. I was having to think a little harder than I would have liked in order to understand exactly what was going on. Regardless, these things did make for a funny show.
My only other criticism of the show was that its cast was largely all white. Hannibal Buress played the role of the funny black friend in the five person group, a character that is all too often inserted into films in order to make them more racially diverse and serve as comedic relief. While Buress played his character excellently, a more diverse cast would have been preferable.
Those looking for a good laugh should consider seeing “Tag” in theaters, but if you are picky about your comedies, this film does have a few flaws.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Timber Mabes is a culture reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @timbermabes.
