Also caught Tag, the new comedy – based on a true story – of a group of friends who have been playing the same game of tag for the past 30 years. Apparently actually based on a Wall Street Times article… and we get footage of the real people at the end of the film playing (twice as many friends and not as photogenic as a bunch of Hollywood actors).
Those Hollywood actors include Jeremy Renner as the friend who is planning on quitting the game after getting married (he has never been tagged), Ed Helms, Hannibal Buress, Isla Fisher, Jake Johnson, Jon Hamm, Rashida Jones, Nora Dunn, and Leslie Bibb. Everybody is having fun even if they are playing basic cliches (the executive, the stoner, the clueless one, etc.). Isla Fisher is having a particular amount of fun playing the overly aggressive alpha wife of Ed Helms… she can’t play the game because their 9 year old contract said “No girls” (and no punches in the butthole… the butt itself is ok).
I laughed pretty hard occasionally in this film. It’s genuinely – if sporadically – very funny. I wish it was more consistently funny and that the plot and repeating action scenes were more interesting. It’s not boring but its not much of a plot for a ninety minute flick. It gets a little draggy here and there but it usually perks up.
One particularly good element is that they are chasing Renner who is a ninja master superhero at Tag. To show this, the movie speed ramps up and down as it gives us Renner’s inner monolog analysis of how to avoid getting tagged. It’s as though the film makers knows they have one of the Avengers in their cast and play with it… even if Renner is only a master at throwing powdered donuts, not flinging arrows.
So, yeah, it’s one of the better comedies of the year. Wish it was better but, that said, it’s funny moments are better than the better comedies released this year. If the film had better shorter or more consistent, it’d be truly excellent. Instead, it’s mere pretty funny.
Score: 81