'Tag': An absurd and boisterous comedy (IANS Review, Rating: **)

Film: "Tag"; Director: Jeff Tomsic; Cast: Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Hannibal Buress, Jake Johnson, Isla Fisher, Annabelle Wallis, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones, Nora Dunn, Lil Rey Howery, Thomas Middleditch; Rating: **

Director Jeff Tomsic's maiden feature film "Tag" is as absurd and bizarre as its incredible premise. Based on a real life story published in Wall Street Journal sometime in 2013, it is the story of grown up men in their forties, who, to keep their friendship alive, have been playing the game of "Tag" since their childhood.

How do they play it? During each May, the participants chase each other no matter where they are - at work, on the streets or in their homes, travelling from city to city, or having to disguise themselves, if need be, to physically catch or tap the opponent. The excitement of the game is what keeps them going.

The five friends are Hogan (Ed Helms) a married Veterinarian, Randy "Chilli" (Jake Johnson) a typical loser who is stoned most of the time, Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm) a top executive in an Insurance firm, Kevin Sable (Hannibal Buress) and Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner) a fitness guru.

Ever since they started playing the game, the group's main rule is that the last one tagged on the last day of May has to begin the next season. And as per the rules, the narrative begins with Hogan tagging Bob, Kevin and Chilli. And like always Jerry has been the elusive one.

So, the quartet, along with Anna (Isla Fisher), Hogan's wife, and Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis), the Wall Street Journal reporter who joins in the game, make it their mission to finally tag their friend Jerry, who has been the champion forever.

Yes, the plot is fluid, silly and outlandish, but at the core of it, the film is about friendship and the comedic aspect of the film comes from the various situational instances. There are a lot of slapstick moments that are astutely handled. But the charm of the humour dies much before it begins as the competitive spirit seems forced and ridiculous.

The script does a good job of mining the dynamics of male friendships, including the oddly believable facts that Renner's character is so good at the game that they never really got to know him as a person. But there's only so far one can take this.

The performances are sincere; Hamm and Helms get to stretch their comedic muscles more than before, Johnson does the most with his one-note stoner character and Buress works wonders with his dry delivery and as the fit and agile fitness guru Renner gets his chance to display his Parkour skills.

Among the females, Isla Fisher makes her presence felt as an aggressive, crude and highly competitive wife of Hogan. Rashida Jones as the hot author introduced to ignite a love-triangle is wasted in a poorly written role. And, Annabelle Wallis is perfunctory in a supporting role of a journalist.

Overall, "Tag" is a disorderly and boisterous comedy with some dark impulses which still finds space for sentiment that doesn't feel totally out of place. The film will appeal to you, only if you like seeing grown-up men behaving like oversized kids.

--IANS

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