Another entry in our 2018 journey: we check in with the Tag lads, and learn what the heck this game is all about!

Follow us on the hashtag #TagTime2018

#Tag #comedy #laughs #lol #TagYourIt #TagThisMoviesAHit #JeremyRennerOfficial

Hi I'm Alan and I'll be commenting on this Tag. #TagTime2018

Hello, Hervey here, and I'll also be commenting on this comedy #TagTime2018

The Warner Brothers shield just dissolved and became the New Line logo, wow #TagTIme2018

Yessss "Inspired by a True Story" lets you know it's good right off the bat. #TagTime2018

Ed Helms is definitely taking this janitor job so he can tag somebody. Get 'em, Ed! #TagTime2018

Ed Helms did not tailor his resume to make this interview frictionless, are they required not to *lie*, per se? #TagTime2018

We know these are successful men who love a game of tag and that's all we need to know. #TagTime2018

I feel like Jon Hamm is usually at 70% Don Draper in other roles, but he's at about 95% Don Draper here #TagTime2018

We have our first tag! #TagTime2018

I'm kind of surprised that the movie opens with "the tag game is tired and stale", I thought that they'd still be more tagpilled as the movie started #TagTime2018

Nice printed-out Facebook post! Extremely 2018. #TagTime2018

Seems like Renner is The Fast One! Excellent. #TagTime2018

We're getting a helpful voice of skepticism, I'm learning so much about the game of tag

Journalism at its finest

#TagTime2018

The stakes are clear and they are HIGH. Loving this so far. Great Earful film. #TagTime2018

It appears to be a very literal film #TagTime2018

Yeah, you want a film about tag? This is a film about tag. Love it. #TagTime2018

Johnny Walker black is drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

We have now met The Stoner! #TagTime2018

Some Beastie Boys and some collateral damage. That's tag for you. #TagTime2018

I'm always a sucker for mounting the camera to an actor's torso (a la Rubber Biscuit in "Mean Streets") #TagTime2018

They've gotta implement a cooldown period on these tags. #TagTime2018

The movie very much feels like "what if we took the story of a bunch of friends who have a low-stakes tradition of pulling off comedic stunts, and turned it into a narrative?"

The basic narrative weight of pulling off a stunt is hard to really get invested in, especially as presented #TagTime2018

Tagging is to Tag (2018) what jumping is to Jumper (2008). #TagTime2018

Of course, the meta-narrative is about their struggle to deal with the seriousness of maturity, versus the joy and possibility of adolescence... will they ever grow up?

But that's genuinely the most boring angle you can throw at this, I can't really care, because they don't feel real #TagTime2018

So really it's about their riffing, which isn't that funny or compelling #TagTime2018

This is based on a real story. You can't get any more real than that. #TagTime2018

Nora Dunn! (A few scenes after Carrie Brownstein!) It's definitely filled with people #TagTime2018

"Yes Man" (2008) was based on a real story, and look how that worked out #TagTime2018

bsky.app/profile/this...

This movie has a sense of time *and* place! #TagTime2018

Wow, we have a guy who is not part of the game, but wants to be part of the game

We're approaching this game from so many angles #TagTime2018

The bartender looks kind of like Charlie from LOST. #CharlieFromLOST #RIPCharlie #TagTime2018

I'm excited for the segment around tracking who's "it" and how many tags there are. #TagTime2018

Practically, pulling off this stunt seems to be 80% about arranging the travel to go from your city to your friend's city

It's really damning that they ostensibly care about this game, but all moved to different metros #TagTime2018

Wow, they have bylaws

I think we should have led with this #TagTime2018

There is an amendment process! This is very good. #TagTime2018

Casamigos Tequila Reposado is drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

Ed Helms travels with the original documents comprising the bylaws? Seems risky #TagTime2018

I'm basically viewing this as a drama, because I've yet to crack a smile #TagTime2018

I've had some good laughs so far. #TagTime2018

Handy to have a minivan that can fit all the Tag Boys. #TagTime2018

This movie is very similar to the on-rails stunts of Fincher's "The Game" (2018) but without any real whiff of true danger #TagTime2018

Nice shift to documentary-style interview shots here. #TagTime2018

This feels like a fun real-life story #TagTime2018

I'm legitimately enjoying Renner being really good at tag. #TagTime2018

I just feel the movie tries to have it both ways: are the basic stakes of the movie the literal game of tag, or how these friends navigate the rules of socializing?

The latter is more interesting, but the movie milks the former for gags (but doesn't really commit to the game!) #TagTime2018

I disagree. This movie is extremely committed to the game. I appreciate that it has been 100% focused on it since minute one and has not deviated from that focus. #TagTime2018

The Shirley Temple is the drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

It certainly *features* the game

But the bylaws function as a perpetual deus ex machina

We're "playing a game", but really it's about navigating the idea of playing a game more than playing a game #TagTime2018

I do agree the movie should have started with a complete reading of the bylaws. #TagTime2018

An Earful of Tag is a really good podcast title. Just saying. #TagTime2018

The martini is the drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

The meta-narrative of the difficulty of enmeshing male sociality with the women in their lives is compelling, but a little hard to take from these cartoon characters #TagTime2018

Wine is the drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

Drink-centric micro-eps #TagTIme2018

This movie is the last gasp of the classic era of Apatow-based "can't we just bring a bunch of people together and have them riff" style of comedy

Probably my least favorite kind of movie #TagTime2018

These are some comically large walkie talkies. Not very subtle, guys! #TagTime2018

It's such a breath of fresh air that we're actually doing the tag game again, I'll absolutely take the ill-defined pseudo-sport of this over the more riffing-based scenes #TagTIme2018

I'm really enjoying this film. #TagTime2018

The drink of the ep is a ruby red rosé wine. #TagTime2018

They need to drop the extra weight out of this golf cart and just let one person lead. #TagTime2018

Renner brought a boombox to the woods just to play Crazy Train and mess with The Tag Boys. I love it. #TagTime2018

The Renner scenes are by far the most successful part of the film, you could imagine the basic dynamic (surreal cartoon-type hijinks) with any sort of real sport

But it meshes so awkwardly with the other part of this movie, which expects you to enjoy that they're playing tag at all #TagTIme2018

These woods are clearly Renner's home turf. They're foolish to try to tag him here. #TagTime2018

A Lyft to the Sandpiper! This is clearly 2018. #TagTime2018

I'm always confused when something is planned: they're treating Jerry like a normal friend, but then it transitions to where Jerry is a tag-playing super-soldier

And they learn nothing from it, every time #TagTime2018

We're on the verge of seeing torture, I wonder if we'll commit to showing torture

#torture #TagTime2018

And everyone remembers that there's a Wall Street Journal reporter in the room as they attempt to torture the desk clerk to give up Jerry's location. #TagTime2018

Imagine what sort of hijinks we might be able to see when they're off the record #TagTime2018

Are the people (such as Rashida Jones, here) calling the tag-players childish *missing* the point, or do they have a point?

Again, the movie seems to be going through the motions #TagTime2018

Nice array of different ways to bar the doors of this church on display here. #TagTime2018

Is this badass or not?

It seems cool, but then the WSJ reporter winking at the audience "this is why print journalism is dying" implies it's not cool

The movie should simply commit to this being cool #TagTime2018

"Oh no, I'm not sober. I'm high right now. I'm just here to tag my friend." #ClassicMovieLines #TagTime2018

Jerry's wife is the villain of this movie, because she does not like the game of tag. #TagTime2018

"This isn't a fucking game"

#wow #woah

#ClassicMovieLines #TagTime2018

Linda's white wine is the drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

"Mmm Mmm Mmm" needle drop is something I don't remember hearing in a movie before

I don't really even know what mood this inflects

I guess kinda sad? #TagTime2018

As an audience member, I feel so bad for enjoying the Tag Lads' hijinks, now that I realize how much it's been hurting people

I was so immature and naive! #TagTime2018

A lot of Instagram stuff happening. Very 2018! #TagTime2018

Wow, secret wedding #TagTime2018

Why does the fake miscarriage nullify the "no tagging at the wedding" amendment? We need to dig into this. #TagTime2018

This could have been a true masterpiece if they only locked down the bylaws in the opening scene #TagTime2018

Wedding champagne is the drink of the ep! #TagTime2018

We were all so wrong to believe that Jerry's wife was a villain who hated the game of tag

Incredible character development, and twists and turns

#TagTime2018

We suddenly pivot to this being a cringe comedy? #TagTime2018

I'd say yes, given "I am so pumped that your husband's dead". #TagTime2018

This movie has succeeded in its mission of being a comedy that makes you "lol", we're now in tearjerker territory

Folks, this movie can do it all #TagTime2018

Honestly, I'm actually kinda enjoying this for the first time in the movie so far, we finally have some gravity, and they kinda feel like human beings for once #TagTime2018

They've discovered the power of friendship! #TagTime2018

Jeremy Renner's sure as hell not gonna be it! #TagTime2018

They made a verbal amendment without Ed Helms! I don't think this is valid. #TagTime2018

Are amendments enacted by a super-majority, or full consensus? #TagTime2018

We need to know a *lot* more about the amendment process here. #TagTime2018

We now see footage of the irl pranksters, and we start seeing how many scenes were just what they did, but increase the cartoonishness about 45% #TagTime2018

Wow, what a film! It's very 2018, and there's a lot to dig into. LOTS of drinks of the ep. Lots of unique mechanics. I like it! #TagTime2018

Renner doing a cover of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" in the closing credits is a great bit, first laugh of the movie for me #TagTime2018

Wow these credits are SOMETHING ELSE. #TagTime2018

A comedy depends a lot on the world being created, and honestly I just found this tonally so strange, so impenetrable

It wasn't really telling a story, and frankly I hated the riffing

I could imagine someone being on its wavelength, maybe, but it's absolutely not me #TagTime2018