Tag

Five buddies (Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Burress) spend one month every year playing an elaborate game of tag. This year, one of them (Renner) is retiring without ever being “it,” so the others (including Isla Fisher as Helms’ wife) redouble their efforts. Based on a Wall Street Journal article about ten real-life pals, Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen’s script dumbs down the story into the kind of dimwit bromance comedy we’ve already seen too many of. Jeff Tomsic’s flailing direction fails—indeed, barely tries—to smooth out the script’s lurching changes in tone from jackass farce to buddy-buddy sentiment to group hug. The cast works hard, but they’re in the hands of amateurs. The closing credits run over smartphone video clips of the real game, which looks like a lot more fun. J.L.