During what turned out to be a rather stressful week, including an impromptu visit to A&E, Mark and I decided to chill out with a movie, and out came our new lucky dip box. This time the movie drawn was Jeff Tomsic’s 2018 buddy comedy Tag starring Jeremy Renner, Ed Nelms and Jon Hamm.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.”

Many of us have experienced the fading of friendships as we transition from children into adulthood but one group of friends have found a rather unique way of staying together and staying young, by avoiding each other as much as possible throughout the month of May.

After an quick introduction to the kids of 1983, we jump forward to present day where Hogan ‘Hoagie’ Malloy (Ed Nelms), still ‘it’ from the previous season, is on an extra special mission, this year he wants to tag the untaggable – Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner), a man whose insane reflexes have allowed him to evade contact for nigh on 30 years and he wants to retire with a perfect game.

In order to enact his mission, Hoagie must first enlist the help of the rest of the group; successful businessman Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), divorced stoner Randy ‘Chilli’ Chilliano (Jake Johnson) and the quietly hilarious Kevin Sable (Hannibal Burress) but that is a task that is easier said than done when everybody is running away from each other…

Personally, I really enjoyed this film. It is a fun feel-good movie, chock full of stupid antics and childish behaviour but there are a few niggles that other’s may have more of a problem with.

First off, this is a film about male friendships and most of the female roles do feel a little second rate although the still standing “no girls allowed” rule may be somewhat to blame. Both Rashida Jones and Leslie Bibb are relegated to one dimensional love interests and poor Annabelle Wallis’ turn as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal is largely forgotten for the whole movie, used only to shoehorn in a reference to the real life article that inspired the film.

And whilst some may still have issue with Hoagie’s crazily competitive (and just plain crazy) wife Anna, excellently played by Isla Fisher, personally I loved the character, probably because she is kind of how I imagined I would be if I were ever in that situation.

The second thing that some people may have an issue with is the humour. For the most part the comedy is very much in line with what is expected from this type of comedy, think Hangover or Horrible Bosses, but there is one joke in particular that may have crossed that line between mildly inappropriate and just plain insensitive.

Now that I’ve got the negative points out of the way, let’s move on to the positive…

This is the type of film that seems like it would appeal to the likes of Adam Sandler (think Grown Ups) or Will Ferrell (and his Anchorman crew) but I think both of those choices would have wound up both overpowering and undermining the film overall. Instead, we have a central group that is excellently cast and perfectly balance heart and comedy for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The comedic chops of Ed Nelms and Jake Johnson should be well known by now and they both deliver consistently familiar performances that allow you to just settle in and enjoy the ride. On the surface, Jon Hamm plays the same type of character that he is best known for, a charming yet borderline arrogant man of success but Tag allows him to bring forth his under-used and often under-appreciated subtle sense of fun.

Speaking of under-appreciated, Hannibal Burress sits quietly in the background but is probably the most relatable of all the characters and delivers some of the best one-liners. His musings on the word ‘bi-weekly’ is scarily reminiscent of conversations I have with myself whilst typing up reports for work.

Jeremy Renner is also someone who I don’t feel gets as much love as he should and for me, Renner was perfect choice for Jerry. With roles in the MCU, Bourne Identity and Mission Impossible franchises, Renner is no stranger to action scenes and he gets to flex those muscles to great effect in Tag but what really makes his performance great is that he seems to truly be having great fun and not taking himself too seriously.

Overall, Tag is well paced feel-good film that is fun to watch, a great way to pass the time and much needed reminder that sometimes we need to let our inner child out to have some fun.

Tag is now available to stream on Netflix.