Film Review: Tag

Genre:  Comedy

Cert: 12A

Director: Jeff Tomsic

Screenwriter: (screenplay by) Rob McKittrick, Mark Steilen, (screen story by) Mark Steilen, (based on the Wall Street Journal article entitled "It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It")  Russell Adams

Starring: Ed Helms, Lil Rel Howery, Jon Hamm, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Isla Fisher, Hannibal Buress, Nora Dunn, Steve Berg, Jeremy Renner, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones, Indiana Sifuentes, Trayce Malachi, Jock McKissic.

Running time: 1h 40min

Parents advised reading before viewing the film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity:

• Female characters wear revealing outfits, including one woman sporting a dress with a neckline that plunges nearly to her waist.
• We see a young man and woman making out in the backseat of a car, and she's wearing only a bra.
• Jokes fly regularly about male and female genitalia, ranging from crude sexual quips spit out for shock value to discussions of genital size, illicit affairs, masturbation and sexual prowess.
• A very suggestive scene between a young adolescent boy and girl implies a certain sexual activity, though critical areas are kept just outside the camera's view.
• A man's pants are pulled down and his mostly naked backside fills the screen.
• Hoagie's mother flirts with Chilli, suggesting a physical connection.
• Hoagie and Anna role-play, kiss and then sneak away to a public restroom for a "quickie" (offscreen).
• Anna gushes to another woman about her enjoyment of Hoagie's tag trips, saying, "Some couples go on cruises. Some couples go camping. Some couples go to strip clubs and have gang bangs. This is our gang bang."
• Hoagie and the guys offer a man some money for information about Jerry's whereabouts.
• He mistakenly thinks their overtures are sexual in nature, leading to an extended, raw-and-raunchy repartee played for gross-out humour.
• There is literally zero nudity in this film. Some sex action where nothing is shown and sexual talk only.

Violence & Gore:

• Pratfalling, thumping violence is a constant part of these friends' fast-paced tagging gameplay.
• Chasers and chasees fall on tables, slam to the floor, crash through doors, careen off walls and thud into moving vehicles.
• People smash through windows and jump from second- and third-story heights-in one case hitting a vehicle on the way down and ending up prone in a parking lot.
• During one particularly disastrous leap, Hoagie knocks himself out cold and has to be taken to the hospital.
• The guys crash golf carts after a chase on a golf course.
• Someone gets hit in the chest by a large log tied up by several ropes.
• People are hit in the crotch.
• Jerry, especially, often amps up the story's ridiculous shenanigans in painful-looking ways, including one scene in which he punches Hoagie's backside as a boxer would a speedbag.
• That pummeling isn't limited to just the guys. Anna is passionate about her husband Hoagie's gameplay.
• She screams with fiery fury to spur him on and sometimes gets into the mix herself.
• She's knocked to the floor and given a bloody nose and hit in the chest by a thrown can of beer.
• She also tackles foes with fists swinging at one point-giving as good as she gets.

Profanity: 

• We hear more than 50 f-words and about 20 s-words, along with multiple uses of "a--," "b--ch" and "d--n."
• Jesus' and God's name are both misused a total of a dozen times, with the latter paired with "d--n" twice.
• Crude terms are used repeatedly for male and female genitalia.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking:

• Chilli regularly smokes marijuana joints and bongs, as well as vaping e-cig devices.
• Chilli even sleeps with a joint tucked between two fingers.
• In fact, when we first meet him, he's trading huge bong hits with his nearly incapacitated elderly father.
• He chases those substances with various alcoholic drinks.
• Hoagie smokes some weed, too.
• But generally, he and the other guys spend a lot of their free time swigging back some type of alcohol.
• Beer cans, bottles of booze and shot glasses are a normal part of this crew's scenery.
• We find out that similar habits have driven Jerry to seek help for his alcoholism.
• Many other characters are seen drinking in social settings (a bar, a wedding reception, etc.).
• Jerry knocks one of his friends out with chloroform.

Frightening/Intense Scenes:  None

Story: One month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running for a no-holds-barred game of tag -- risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take one another down. This time, the game coincides with the wedding of the only undefeated player. What should be an easy target soon becomes an all-out war as he knows they're coming to get him.

Likes: Oh man this film is hilarious from start to finish, what surprised me is this film is actually based on real-life friends that have been playing tags for years. Now normal when you think of adult playing kids games you kind of find some just rolling there eyes, but i'l be honest Tag is an age-old game that never gets old.

This film is entertaining while being outrageous at the same time, it seems like they let the beautiful Isla Fisher just let loose because damn she mental in a funny way which makes her moment funny as hell. When you have an unusual cast like Ed Helms, Lil Rel Howery, Jon Hamm and Jake Johnson with a reporter played by Annabelle Wallis (Fast and furious)  it makes for a great expected comedy that will make you laugh.

Jeremy Renner pure class in this film, love the character and the narrative is given, which kept the film entertaining as a friend who has a record of not being tag ever, this is what the whole plot of the film is about them trying to Tag  Renner character with hilarious result along the way.

It most definitely not a film you can take seriously, the film doesn't try to take itself seriously because of the very nature of the film itself, which why this film is naturally funny, it doesn't try to force the jokes or the humour through the film, which is great because when the comedic moments come you find yourself laughing more.

The acting performance are brilliant from all the cast, you can see they had fun making this movie, I would love to see bloopers of this film as I bet they're even funnier.

If there was a film to watch this would be one I recommended watching as its completely hilarious.


Dislikes: One flaw in this film is the tree log at that speed and that fast you won't be getting up.

Overall: Great comedy, Great casting, great humour. recommended watch

Rating: 5 out of 5 for Entertainment / 9 out of 10 for Comedic humour.