History Film / Tag

** Hoagie [[spoiler:hiding the fact that he might not make it for next season can be inferred from the fact that not only was he the one to get his friends together to tag Jerry but Jerry himself never once bragged about retiring from the game as Hoagie had stated much earlier.]]
** Furthermore, [[spoiler:after being tagged, Bob comments that Hoagie seems to have lost weight, which Hoagie quickly brushes off. Weight-loss is a symptom of certain types of chemotherapy.]]
** While explaining to Bob, [[spoiler: he says they either tag Jerry or they die. When Bob questions him, he hastily adds "eventually" but there is a noticeable hesitation before he brings up death.]]
** Hoagie also stated to Chilli that [[spoiler:he'd been experimenting with medicinal marijuana.]]
** Also, [[spoiler:Lou says that in exchange for his silence, Jerry promised to let him play Tag next season. That contradicts what Hoagie claimed about Jerry retiring from Tag; an early hint he lied.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: Jerry and Susan try to judge Hoagie and the others for trying to tag him during the wedding and say it's crossing the line. Bob and Chilli rightly point out that they crossed a very large line when Susan lied about being pregnant and even faked a miscarriage in order to make sure Jerry wasn't tagged, so they have no right to claim the moral high ground.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Hoagie reveals he only got everyone together for the game because he is most likely going to die from a tumor on his liver, but this means Jerry swallows his pride and allows himself to finally get tagged, and they change their rules so that their wives can play.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: Jerry and Susan try to judge Hoagie and the others for trying to tag him during the wedding and say it's crossing the line. Bob and Chilli rightly point out that they crossed a very large line by pretending to be pregnant and even faking a miscarriage in order to make sure Jerry wasn't tagged, so they have no right to claim the moral high ground.

* Hypocrite: Jerry and Susan try to judge Hoagie and the others for trying to tag him during the wedding and say it's crossing the line. Bob and Chilli rightly point out that they crossed a very large line by pretending to be pregnant and even faking a miscarriage in order to make sure Jerry wasn't tagged, so they have no right to claim the moral high ground.

* AudienceSurrogate: A Wall Street Journal reporter follows the group around on their adventure, standing mostly as an observer to the chaos. At several points the movie has to remind us that she is still there, calmly watching them break into Jerry's home and [[ItMakesSenseInContext nearly waterboard a gym employee]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Hoagie reveals he only got everyone together for the game because he is most likely going to die from a tumor on his liver, but this means Jerry swallows his pride and allows himself to finally get tagged, and they change their rules so that Anna and Rebecca can play.]]

* CrazyPrepared: Jerry--who has never been tagged--has gone out of his way to figure out every conceivable escape route around him, left equipment caches in secret locations, and trained himself to peak physical condition to dodge any attempt. He even has [[spoiler:a replica of Hoagie's childhood bedroom ''constructed in his basement'']], as a means of tricking the other players out of his house.

* FakePregnancy: [[spoiler:{{Exploited}}, even '''weaponized''', by Jerry and his wife. She lets it slip that she's pregnant as a way to set up a possible escape route should Jerry become trapped and need to make an exit while the game of Tag is still in play.]]

** Hoagie also stated to Chilli that [[spoiler: he’d been experimenting with medicinal marijuana.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The gang start to skirt some moral boundaries the longer the game goes on - Hoagie and the rest of the guys almost waterboard someone, whilst Jerry [[spoiler:and his wife fake a miscarriage]].

* PrecisionFStrike: When Jerry's wife suffers a possible miscarriage, Jerry's concern for her puts his friends in a state of confusion when they wonder if he's just acting to avoid being tagged, or if his wife is actually in trouble. When they offer to help, he angrily tells them to just stay away, "this isn't a fucking game." [[spoiler: It turns out it was, as his wife was just putting on an act to get Jerry out of his predicament of being tagged. She wasn't even pregnant.]]

* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Bob ([[Creator/JonHamm Hamm]]) vs Chilli (Johnson), respectively, for the affections of Cheryl (Creator/RashidaJones). Bob is the CEO of a large insurance firm, while Chilli is an unemployed stoner who lives with his father. It's noted that Chilli ''was'' once successful, but his business collapsed, which is part of why Cheryl finds him attractive.

** For Jerry [[spoiler:and his wife, faking a pregnancy and subsequently faking a miscarriage]] doesn't cross the line. The rest of the friends feel that maybe that's taking the game a little too far.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The gang start to skirt some moral boundaries the longer the game goes on - Hoagie and the rest ifvtge guys almost waterboard someone, whilst Jerry [[spoiler:and his wife fake a miscarriage]].

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Chilli is shown tagging Hoagie at Hoagie's father's funeral. That actually happened between two of the real players.

* AudienceSurrogate: A Wall Street Journal reporter follows the group around on their adventure, standing mostly as an observer to the chaos. At several points the movie has to remind us that she is still there, calmly watching them break into Jerry's home and [[ItMakesSenseInContext nearly waterboard an employee]].

** [[spoiler:Hoagie hiding the fact that he might not make it for next season can be inferred from the fact that not only was he the one to get his friends together to tag Jerry but Jerry himself never once bragged about retiring from the game as Hoagie had stated much earlier.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you happen to be looking directly at [[spoiler:her, Susan's face after the miscarriage, once she and Jerry aren't facing the protagonists anymore, is cracking a smile. You can figure out she was faking it before TheReveal.]]

* GirlsHaveCooties: Invoked. The rules of the game include a "No Girls Allowed" amendment because the players were boys when they formalized the game.
* HeelRealization: Jerry realizes that he was so obsessed with his perfect record that he ended up mistreating his friends, as instead of being in the back of the wedding ceremony they should have been standing next to him. Hoagie later tells him that despite never being tagged, he missed the point of the game in that it was supposed to bring everyone closer, and all he did was run from them (it's suggested at several points that they just aren't that close to Jerry anymore, especially compared to the rest of the guys).

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The gang start to skirt some moral boundaries the longer the game goes on, the rest of the friends almost waterboard someone, Jerry [[spoiler:and his wife fake a miscarriage]].

* LeeroyJenkins: Chilli rushes headlong into any situation without much thought, even if he's not it. Jerry can easily avoid his tag attempts.

** Everyone bar Jerry reacts this way when [[spoiler:Hoagie collapses at the wedding]].

* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Bob ([[Creator/JonHamm Hamm]]) vs Chilli (Johnson), respectively, for the affections of Cheryl (Creator/RashidaJones). Bob is the CEO of a large insurance firm, while Chilli is an unemployed stoner who lives with his father. It's noted that Chilli ''was'' once successful, but his business collapsed, which is part of why Cheryl finds him attractive: she sees him as TheWoobie.
* SeriousBusiness: The game of Tag. All of the guys will go to great lengths to tag and avoid being tagged. Eventually discussed in the third act when everybody else confronts Jerry and tell him that the whole idea of making this Serious Business was to find a reason to maintain contact with each other when they went their separate ways and Jerry (who's tactics have [[EveryoneHasStandards become too dickish for them to stand]] -- [[spoiler:asking his wife to fake being pregnant complete with ''faked miscarriage'' so to keep an "exit ticket" handy comes to mind]]) is just alienating them.

** [[spoiler:As it turns out, Jerry felt this way about his role in the group - that rest of the guys were all closer to one another than to him, which was why he tried so hard to remain untagged for so long. The others point out that this just became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as they'd have likely been closer had he not invested so much time and energy in not getting tagged.]]

** When Hoagie tries tagging him at his wedding, Jerry & Susan call out the guys for ruining their wedding; it’s promptly pointed out that they don’t have any moral high grounds after faking a miscarriage so Jerry could avoid being tagged.

The story revolves around a group of five childhood friends who are engaged in a decades-long game of Tag. Each goes to absurd lengths to catch his friends by surprise and practically no time or place is off limits. Four of the members are thrown for a loop, however, when the fifth member of their group, who has never been tagged, announces that he might not be interested in playing the game anymore.

** [[spoiler:As it turns out, Jerry felt this way about his role in the group - that rest of the guys were all closer to one another than to him, which was why he tried so hard to remain untagged for so long.]]

** Furthermore, [[spoiler:after being tagged, Bob comments that Hoagie seems to have lost weight. For those who understand certain side effects of chemotherapy. Hoagie merely brushes the comment off, not even mentioning how he has been losing weight.]]

* AdrenalineTime: Done mostly with Jerry, as he proceeds to avoid his friends while offering a voiceover SherlockScan analyzing their weaknesses and explaining his strategy.

* RealityEnsues: Both Jerry and Hoagie's significant others, Susan and Anna, avoid being WetBlanketWife clichés, and in fact seem about as intense and over-the-top as they are. Anna is perhaps the most hyper-focussed person on the game in the movie, and she's not even an active player. Which makes sense, since it'd be unlikely any of them could maintain a long-standing relationship with someone who ''wasn't'' as [[BirdsOfAFeather insane as they are]].

''Tag'' is a comedy film released in 2018. It stars Creator/JeremyRenner, Creator/JonHamm, Creator/EdHelms, Creator/HannibalBuress, Creator/JakeJohnson, Creator/IslaFisher, and Leslie Bibb.