“… I thought would be a disposable comedy good for a few laughs and then chucked to the curb by my brain, but in reality it has a lot more weight than that.”

Yesterday I went to see Tag, and I was genuinely surprised by how good it was. Tag is one of those movies that when you hear the premise, a group of friends have played the same game of tag for 30 years, you think its going to be one of those comedies that you see and then forget about minutes after you leave the theatre. But it managed to be so much more than that.

Tag did a very good job of being not only hilarious, but also balancing both the action and drama genres as well. It takes talent to not only utilize one genre, but three all at once, and make sure that they all play nice with one another. For one I loved the action breakdowns that were similar to the Sherlock Holmes movies directed by Guy Ritchie, as they both added to the intensity and the comedy moments of the movie. And also, the action scenes were just really well coordinated in the first place. Everything about them made Tag that much better.

But then we also have the dramatic elements that do a great job to help balance out the story in Tag. Sure it’s great to laugh for 90 minutes, but Tag then manages to make you connect with and feel for these characters. You grow attached to the story as you find out why these guys are continuing to play the same game of tag, and what it means to each of them. It’s surprisingly touching and very well done, especially for what I thought would be a “dumb comedy”.

And last but not least you have the performances. The cast in Tag is a pretty star-studded one, but more importantly than that they have a real connection that you can feel. You believe that these men have been friends since childhood, and you believe that they would be immature enough to continue a game of tag into adulthood. Not only were each of these actors more than capable of adding to the comedy of the film, but they were also very adept during the emotional moments as well. And any movie that gives me more Hannibal Buress is more than okay in my book.

Overall Tag is a movie that I thought would be a disposable comedy good for a few laughs and then chucked to the curb by my brain, but in reality it has a lot more weight than that. It managed to balance three genres seamlessly, and told a story that is both toughing and hilarious.

I give Tag an A