History Film / Tag

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

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoilers:The guys turn up at Jerry’s wedding, fully willing to stick to the amendment restricting them from tagging Jerry there - it’s only Susan taunting Hoagie by accusing him of playing like a child that spurs him into breaking the amendment.]]

** Also, all the friends agree not to crash the wedding by trying to tag Jerry. Before or after, sure-- but not ''during''. That's just dickish.

* LastNameBasis: Kevin Sable is only ever referred to by his last name.

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

* TheAce: Jerry is in incredibly good shape, able to effortlessly defend himself from all of his friends attacks as well as plan out elaborate traps for everyone, and also is apparently loved by his community and runs a successful gym business.

* ObviousRulePatch: The game has a stack of "amendments" that the five members have come up with to address issues that aren't covered by the original rules. The film depicts one being developed to declare Jerry's wedding off limits to the game. There's also one that allows attacks to the ass cheeks but not to the anus.

** The bartender in the friends' hometown, who desperately wants to be part of their game, but is constantly shut out.

* 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. 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]].

* CuteButPsycho: Hoagie's wife Anna has a HairTriggerTemper and scares the rest of the guys with how seriously she takes the game, even though she is technically not allowed to play.

* BatmanGambit: Quite a few of Jerry's tag-evasion plans depended on the others reacting exactly the way they did in the film, such as whether Callahan or Chilli would be distracted from their plan to cover the exists by talking to Cheryl Deakins or which one of the group would try to tag him while collecting his tux.

* SoftGlass: Subverted. Bob tries to break the window of his conference room with a chair to escape being tagged by Hoagie at the beginning of the film. The chair just bounces off the glass and hits Bob in the face.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: {{Discussed}}. Hoagie informs Jerry that he's missed the entire point of the game by always ensuring he's never tagged. The point was for the friends to find a reason to keep coming together, not to constantly try to get away.

** For Jerry [[spoiler:and his wife, faking a pregnancy and a 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.
** Also, all the friends agree not to crash the wedding by trying to tag Jerry. Before or after, sure--but not ''during''. That's just dickish.

* FreakOut: When Hoagie finds out [[spoiler:Susan faked a miscarriage to allow Jerry to escape]], he goes berserk and [[spoiler:trashes the group's hideout]] before angrily declaring that Jerry has beaten them.

* 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 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]].

* 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. Its noted that Chilli ''was'' once successful, but his business collapsed, which is part of why Cheryl finds him attractive, she sees him as TheWoobie.

* SherlockScan: One of Jerry's skills: figuring out not only the best way to avoid getting tagged, but how to trip and toss his buddies at each other to tag themselves. He uses a hyperawareness that would impress Sherlock Holmes himself.

** Hoagie is quick to suspect that Jerry only invited Cheryl Deakins to the wedding to distract Bob and Chilli. He's right (though Cheryl accepted not for Jerry's sake, but because she really *did* want to see them).

* SoftGlass: Averted. Bob tries to break the window of his conference room with a chair to escape being tagged by Hoagie at the beginning of the film. The chair just bounces off the glass and hits Bob in the face.

** DoubleSubverted as we first see Chilli using a bong in his first appearance, but it turns out he was merely getting it ready for his father's use. Then it's revealed that LikeFatherLikeSon, they're both stoners.

* TagalongKid: The bartender in the friends' hometown, who desperately wants to be part of their game, but is constantly shut out.

* BreastAttack: Accidentally with a beer can

** The fact that Hoagie often uses disguises, specifically PaperThinDisguises like wigs and fake mustaches, is also something that the real players demonstrated, as seen in the ending montage.

* 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.

* 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 into a smile. You can figure out she was faking it before TheReveal.]]

** Bob and Chilli both have this reaction at the beginning when they realise Hoagie has come to tag them. Sable, by contrast, criticises them for interrupting his psychiatric appointment but otherwise accepts his fate.

* TheStoner: Chilli, who is smoking weed in damn near every scene he's in.

* SeriousBusiness: The game of Tag.

BasedOnATrueStory of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYuEoBwE0lo ten men who really do dedicate the month of February to play a game of Tag that is now in its third decade]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: If you listen closely, the song playing when the group dejectedly return to Hoagie's house after [[spoiler:Susan's apparent miscarriage]] is "Headline News" by Creator/WeirdAlYankovic. Not the least inappropriate Weird Al song they could have picked, but still a strange choice.

* 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.

** When we first see Sable, he's talking to a psychiatrist about his paranoia and other issues. Just as his psychiatrist tries to assure him that nobody is out to get him, Hoagie, Bob, and Chilli burst into the room to tag him.
** Hoagie is quick to suspect that Jerry only invited Cheryl Deakins to the wedding to distract Bob and Chilli. He's right (though Cheryl apparently came of her own volition and really *did* want to see them).

** PlayedForDrama and subverted at the end of the film when first Chilli, and then Jerry, utterly refuse to believe that [[spoiler:Hoagie has advanced liver cancer]], thinking it's just another elaborate ruse. Chilli goes as far as accusing [[spoiler:the entire hospital]] of being a set populated with actors.

* CuteButPsycho: Hoagie's wife Anna has a HairTriggerTemper and scares the rest of the guys with how serious she takes the game, even though she is technically not allowed to play.

* FlawExploitation: Jerry knows his opponents' weaknesses and uses them to his advantage. This includes allowing himself to appear to be vulnerable in front of Bob (knowing Bob's arrogance and desire to get the glory to himself) and inviting the former love interest of both Bob and Chilli to his wedding (causing them to both be distracted by the renewed LoveTriangle)