One of my favorite ways to break an overlong silence is to spontaneously tag somebody. I had to stop tho when I tagged my BFFF on the subway, and he then tagged the rando sitting across from us. Still, I love everything about the premise of this movie.
Based on a true game of tagging happening between a group of grown men, the movie follows a group of childhood friends who have continued their playground game well into adulthood. For one month a year, they (Jon Hamm, Ed Helmes, Hannibal Buress, and Jake Johnson with an assist from Isla Fisher) will stop at nothing try to tag each other, making sure they’re not the last one it. They’re hoping that this is the year they finally tag the untaggable Jeremy Renner who uses his Avengers skillz to elude them (oooh that’s Hawkeye’s power?).
This is the rare comedy that worked for me on every level: dialog, cast, concept, visuals, everything. I realized partway thru the film that this movie had no boundaries. They were taking things much farther than most comedies would dare, and it just kept going. I ate up every second of it. A big part of why so many comedies fall flat for me is that they play it too safe, and I can see every joke coming from a mile away. Not a problem here.
The cast was incredible. Standouts for me were Isla Fisher and Jeremy Renner. Fisher wasn’t doing anything too different from what we usually see from her, but it reminded me that she needs to be doing it more. And whodda thunk Renner was such a great comedian? Whole new side of an actor who’s been underapprecaited. Also quick shout out to Jon Hamm who I love seeing play funny, and to Ed Helms who hadn’t had a decent role in a while. Seriously, this played to everyone’s strengths.
I think we have a solid contender for my favorite comedy of the year.
Tag – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/