SiftPop

by Aaron Schweitzer, Editor

Welcome to Another Person’s Treasure. In this series, we discuss films that aren’t considered great by critics or audience scores, but are considered great by the author. I think Tag deserves a second glance, so let’s get into why.

Full disclosure: I watched 2012’s Red Dawn in preparation for this article because I remember really enjoying that film and not understanding why its scores are so low. I still don’t see the hate for the movie, but it is definitely a bland action movie with not much special about it. So, I started to peruse my ratings on Letterboxd for films I had seen recently and also weren’t held in high regard, and I came across 2018’s Tag. I thought, “Surely, this can’t be right. Everyone I know really likes this movie!” and I was indeed wrong.

Tag holds a 6.5 on IMDb, a 56% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, 56% audience score, 56 on Metacritic, and holds a 2.9 average on Letterboxd. I remember when I first saw Tag in theaters opening weekend and would probably agree with those scores, but the more time had passed, ithas grown into one of my favorite comedies in recent years. I think at the time, we were just spoiled with how good the same year’s Game Night was that it set a new standard for comedies. I think I have seen both films the same amount of times, and while Game Night is clearly the better film, Tag is a lot closer than scores make it seem.

I want to start with the concept. Based on a true story, a group of friends continue to play tag for one month out of every year. As they grow older and more successful, a lot of the ways they play get more ridiculous. After playing the game for 30 years, Jerry (Jeremy Renner) has still yet to be “it”, so Hoagie (Ed Helms) gets together the rest of the group to make sure they tag him one time before Jerry retires from the game at his wedding at the end of the month.

Comedies rely on the actors that star in them, and the cast is the main reason this film works so well. Renner is playing the cocky showoff which he plays to a T. Helms is kind of playing himself, but that is always a welcome thing. Jake Johnson is in one of my favorite role of his, playing a pothead and the wild card of the group. Jon Hamm is playing the newer version of Jon Hamm that we’ve seen recently, and I am totally here for it; he just looks like he is having so much fun. Hannibal Buress plays the mysterious one of the group, and has the best lines, delivered perfectly. Rounding out the core group is Isla Fisher, who plays Helms’ wife and gets WAY into the game, despite not actually playing. Surrounded by a great supporting cast in cluding Lil Rel Howery, Annabele Wallis, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones, and Thomas Middleditch, Tag is full of funny people in funny situations.

The biggest reason this movie works is that the comedy works really well. It truly feels like each of these roles were written for each cast member. I mean, just think of Buress’ line “How come ‘bi-weekly’ means both twice a week and every other week?” and tell me that wasn’t meant for him. But it’s not just the lines that deliver some of the funniest moments. It is also the way the film is directed. It could have easily had Renner be a ninja, and he totally is, but it slows down and we hear the inner monologue that makes a few scenes so much funnier. It also gives the film a unique voice that sets it apart from other comedies in the last few years. Since the most effective part of a comedy is its jokes, I’ll elect to not spoil any more for you here.

A quick note, and it really is my only complaint with the movie, but boy is it a doozie. There’s a lengthy scene involving a miscarriage and, while it goes to show the severity to which they play the game, it just is never something to make light of or even try to joke about. The film could have easily gone without it, but for whatever reason, they kept it in the script. I have no defense for this pretty big part of the climax of the movie, but it doesn’t ruin my experience. That said, if that would be a trigger for you, consider yourself warned.

Back to the positives, and here is where I want to end. From when they announced this movie, to the time the trailer came out, and even up until my first screening started, I was expecting a dumb comedy that would be ridiculous in either all the right ways or all the wrong ways. While I was right on that note, my biggest admiration of the movie was that in a film where the concept is to show a bunch of man-children being ridiculous, the biggest surprise was how much heart it has. Near the end of the movie, we come to a revelation and a few moments that mean quite a bit. One of the characters is sent to the hospital, and the movie took a turn that I just did not expect, but wound up being the thing I appreciated mostly. In the hospital, they choose to amend rules, because sticking to rules you establish when you’re in middle school is just stupid, and the movie has fun for the rest of the way. And sandwiched between the two moments is a sneaky forgotten moment where it is explained that Jerry is never as close to the rest of the guys because he spends his entire life trying to avoid them, but the game is actually about trying to be closer to one another.

I’m not trying to say that the film tries to pull off anything profound, but what I am saying is that the heart of this movie is the cherry on the top of a well-constructed sundae. This film has become a regular comedy in my household, and I knew I thought higher on this film than most other people I know, but I did not expect it to be this much higher. I love this film (minus one “joke”) and truly believe if for some reason you passed it up, you are missing out.

You can follow Aaron Schweitzer on Twitter and Letterboxd