Paula Hammond - Features EditorFor one month every year, five highly-competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds barred game of tag that they’ve been playing since the first grade—risking their necks, their jobs, and their relationships to take each other on with the battle cry: ‘You’re it!”
Based on a true story, the premise is promising and the cast are top-notch with Jeremy Renner—as the Alpha Dog who has never been tagged—once again proving what a versatile actor he can be.
Whether you’ll like what TAG has to offer, however, depends very much on where you stand on the humour line. It’s certainly going to divide audiences. Some may see this as a harmless, blokey, slapstick comedy, awash with messy messages about embracing your inner-child. Some will see a lazy, laboured Hangover wannabe where the laughs are as sparse as the gender and cultural diversity.
TAG is hard to put in a box. It’s not family-friendly and there are times when the humour borders on the vicious. It’s a film that does have a warm heart—but it’s hidden under layers of psychosis. But then, perhaps that’s the whole point?
TAG is basically a comedy about the perilous world of male friendships—where ‘no girls are allowed’ and any emotional connections must be buried deep beneath layers of banter and aggressive one-upmanship. Bros before hoes and real men never hug. It’s a world that will resonate with many guys. Whether TAG is celebrating or condemning that world, is for the audience to decide.
