Journalism can produce epic entertainment.  Remember All the President’s Men and Spotlight.  Now there is Tag!  Based on a Wall Street Journal article about childhood friends keeping a game of “tag” alive for thirty years, this movie has taken that idea and run wild with it.  Five friends have played tag for one month out of every year for thirty years, using the game to keep in contact with each other.  There are rules governing the game, but no expense or effort is spared as these five men track each other down, disguise themselves in order to get close, and then tag one another with glee,

Jeff Tomsic’s film has some great things going for it, beginning with the premise.  There’s a reason the Wall Street Journal story was so popular; the idea of grown-ups keeping a game going for decades is awesome.  The five friends (Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Jeremy Renner) are all gung ho about the game, ready to drop everything to go at it.  A bemused reporter (Annabelle Wallis) tags along, thinking that this developing story is better than the interview of Jon Hamm she is trying to conduct.  And the wives and girlfriends of some of the men take the game even more seriously than the guys do.

I love the conceit that one of the friends, Jeremy Renner, has never been tagged, and wants to retire undefeated, so to speak.  I love the enthusiasm that Ed Helms’ wife Isla Fisher brings to the contest; she’s tougher, and funnier, than any of the guys.  I love the slow motion action scenes as everyone goes after Renner (reminiscent of the destructive battles between Inspector Clouseau and Kato in the Peter Sellers Pink Panther comedies, especially The Pink Panther Strikes Again).  And best of all I love the last act, after the wedding, when the group finally comes to grip with what it really means to be able to continue to play the game.  So many movies don’t know how to finish; this one ends perfectly.

This movie will never be as important or acclaimed as journalism-inspired movies of the past, but it is just as entertaining in a much more appealing way.  I had a blast watching these friends find ways to embarrass themselves and each other.  The game makes them better people.  I’m a better person for having seen this movie.  Maybe you will be, too.  I just wish this story could have happened to me!☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  22 November 2018.