{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}

[tab title="Movie Review"]

You know you’ve just watched a bad movie when the post-credits video montage of the real characters who inspired the story is the best part of the entire ordeal. That’s exactly the case with Tag, a film inspired by the real-life story of a group of middle-aged men who’ve been playing an elaborate game a tag since their childhood in the early 80s.

A quick Google search will turn up numerous interviews, snippets, and videos that feature the exhaustive depths these guys are willing to go to in order to pass the “you’re it” declaration onto another. It is actually quite funny stuff. The movie, not so much.

We join the hijinks as veterinarian Hoagie (Ed Helms) has just begun his ruse to tag company executive Bob (Jon Hamm) by applying for a janitor job in Bob’s company. Bob is in the middle of an interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca (Annabelle Wallis) when Hoagie interrupts to tag him. With a successful “tag” and an abrupt plan to spring the trap on another member of the gang, the two set out across the country – with Rebecca in tow – to meet up with the others.

We soon learn that the grand plan by the group’s four members is to devise a scheme to finally tag Jerry (Jeremy Renner), the fifth member, and the only one who has never been tagged since the game’s inception. Joining them is slacker pothead “Chillie” (New Girl’s Jake Johnson) and clinically depressed Sable (comedian Hannibal Buress). The plan is to tag Jerry when he least expects it: at his own wedding. {googleads}

The premise is interesting enough, and with a stable of such fine comic actors who set out on what is essentially a road trip, how can things possibly go so wrong? One must look no further than the shallow script – by novice big screen writers Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen – that misses its mark more often than it hits and garners hardly a single laugh beyond the film’s opening scenes.

Tonally, the film is all over the place with a misguided sentiment that veers abruptly from openly cloying at times to uncomfortably dark at others. It all makes for an awkwardly disjointed game that is often too mean-spirited to earn our buy-in when it tries for sympathy later on. Gallows humor is a tough nut to crack in a comedy, and it proves too much for director Jeff Tomsic whose jokes about miscarriage, torture, and punishment have us squirming in our seats rather than rolling in the aisles. Even a bit that features a masturbating stuffed animal fails to muster laughs and instead has us groaning at the forced strains.

Much of the film’s humor – what precious little there is – is couched in the reality and visualization of grown men continuing to play a kid’s game. And that’s also where the film’s heartfelt but poorly mishandled message resides. Their game of tag is actually a metaphor for celebrating friendship and keeping those little things from our childhood alive. Jerry is eventually made to realize that his expertise at the game and avoidance of being “tagged” has actually had a detrimental effect on that friendship. Tomsic and company go for the feels in the closing act, but those emotions haven’t been earned. Unfortunately, we’ve had the rug of emotion pulled out from us a few too many times. Too many of those moments were used to fool us into thinking something important was about to happen, only to learn it was a cheap ruse to get the next guy tagged.

Perhaps if Tag were a much funnier film its flaws wouldn’t matter so much. Unfortunately it isn’t and they do. Most of the stabs at humor come off as infantile silliness at best and unforgivable laziness at worst. With such a great premise and an even better cast I thought Tag would be a sure thing for plenty of fun and yuks. Unfortunately, they got me. Tag! Now, you’re it!

[/tab]

[tab title="Details"]

MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, crude sexual content, drug use and brief nudity.
Runtime: 110 mins
Director: Jeff Tomsic
Writer: Rob McKittrick, Mark Steilen
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis
Genre: Comedy
Tagline: Based on a True Story. We're Not Kidding.
Memorable Movie Quote: "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.""
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros.
Official Site:
Release Date: June 15, 2018
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Own it early on digital August 17, Blu-ray and DVD debut on August 28.
Synopsis: A small group of former classmates organize an elaborate, annual game of tag that requires some to travel all over the country.

[/tab]

[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Warner Bros.
Available on Blu-ray - Own it early on digital August 17, Blu-ray and DVD debut on August 28.
Screen Formats: 2.4:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Audio: English: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1; Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1; English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set; UV digital copy; Digital copy; Movies Anywhere; DVD copy
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Tag comes from Warner Bros. who give us a nicely done 16:9 widescreen 1080p transfer with DTS-HD Master 5.7 Audio. The discs comes with a cardboard slip cover, blu-ray disc, DVD copy, and Movies Anywhere slip sheet with download instructions. The transfer is all around generally bright and colorful with perfectly rendered skin tones while maintaining deep blacks and perfectly saturated colors. No signs of digital artifacting (even in the darker layers and shadows) make this a well-crafted and lovingly tended-to release.

On the audio side of things, the hip-hop tunes keep things lively and interesting where we get a 5.1 channel DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack that works the room with surprisingly robust low end while the center channel handles the majority of the load as the film is dialogue-heavy.

Warner clearly paid a lot of attention to the technical details but went light on the extra features where we get some interviews, gag reel, deleted scenes, and outtakes.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

• Meet the Real Tag Brothers (05:23) - A five-minute featurette interview with the real-life men who've been playing the game since high school days and who inspired the film version of their lives. The quintet talk about the original of the game, with plenty of footage of the real guys tagging one another. They also wax poetic on how playing game transcends being just a "game" and has kept their friendship alive for more than 30 years. Some of this tag footage is actually more entertaining than a large part of the film.

• Deleted Scenes - Scenes that didn't make the final cut - and for good reason. Mostly repetitive and uninteresting.

• Tapping Therapy
• Walkie-Talkies
• Air Bud is Sci-Fi
• Booth of York / Face Full
• Jerrie is a Replicant
• Graduation Flashback
• Golfers Get Hit
• Bus Stop

• Gag Reel - Bloopers, fart jokes, real farting, crackups while filming, and lots of running

• Outtakes

• PCP and Air Bud
• Therapy Session / Dick Talk

Supplemental Standard Definition DVD contains:

• Meet the Real Tag Brothers (05:23)

[/tab]

[tab title="Trailer"]

[/tab]

[tab title="Art"]

[/tab]

{/jatabs}