Susan Granger’s review of “Tag” (Warner Bros./New Line Cinema)
Based on a true story, a childhood playground game becomes a bonding experience for a group of middle-aged guys.
Since they were nine years old in Spokane, Washington, five pals have played a raucous game of tag. Now that they’re older, during the month of May, it’s still game on!
Intensely egged on by his wife, Anna (Isla Fisher), veterinarian Hoagie (Ed Helms), joins insurance C.E.O. Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), recently divorced stoner Chilli (Jake Johnson), and neurotic Sable (Hannibal Buress). But the “king of the game” is cocky Jerry (Jeremy Renner), a highly competitive, fitness fanatic who has never been tagged.
A pivotal plot point reveals that Jerry is scheduled to get married to Susan (Leslie Bibb) on May 31 and he has not invited his rowdy buddies to the ceremony. So Hoagie plans the ultimate power play: cornering unsuspecting Jerry on his wedding day.
Trailing the quintet is a “Wall Street Journal” reporter, Rebecca (Annabelle Wallis), who is ostensibly writing a profile about Callahan but finds hijinks of their game far more fascinating.
Based on Russell Adams’ “Wall Street Journal” article, it’s sketchily scripted by Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen, and directed by Jeff Tomsic. The supporting cast includes Brian Dennehy, Nora Dunn, Rashida Jones, Carrie Brownstein, and Lil Rel Howery.
When he was on “The Tonight Show,” Jeremy Renner explained to Jimmy Fallon how he broke both his arms doing a stunt: “There’s this stack of chairs, like 20 feet high, and it’s supposed to fall over and I’m supposed to ride it down like a surfboard and then keep running. But then a hinge broke and I fell on the ground.”
Undaunted, Renner finished the day’s filming and then went to the hospital, explaining, “I had to keep going. Otherwise, I had ‘Avengers’ to do after that. I had to heal fast.” Filmmakers used CGI to cover the cast on his arm.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tag” is a playful 5. “You’re it!”
