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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Tag (Blu-ray) (2018)

Tag (Blu-ray) (2018)

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Released 19-Sep-2018
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Featurette Deleted Scenes Outtakes
Rating
Year Of Production	2018
Running Time	100:33
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jeff Tomsic
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ed Helms Jake Johnson Isla Fisher Jon Hamm Jeremy Renner
Case	Standard Blu-ray	Starring	Ed Helms Jake Johnson Isla Fisher Jon Hamm Jeremy Renner
RPI	$29.95	Music	Germaine Franco

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired Danish Finnish Icelandic Norwegian Swedish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

A few years ago an article featured in The Wall Street Journal about a group of men who had been playing the same game of tag since their childhood despite living across the US. They had established rules for their game, played only one month a year, and enjoyed using it as a way to keep their friendship alive despite the distances involved. This may seem like a slightly odd premise for a feature film, however New Line grabbed the idea and ran with it, resulting in this modestly successful theatrical film, Tag. It was directed by Jeff Tomsic, a first time feature director with a mostly television background.

A group of friends who grew up together in a small town are now in their middle aged years and have been playing a game of tag since their childhood. The group consists of

Hoagie Malloy (Ed Helms) a successful veterinarian, who is obsessed by finally tagging Jerry. His wife, Anna (Isla Fisher) is probably even more obsessed with the game than he is.
Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm) the CEO of an insurance company, who has built his career on self-confidence.
Randy "Chili" Cilliano (Jake Johnson), a drop-out stoner who is divorced
Kevin Sable (Hannibal Buress), their philosophical friend
Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner), who still lives in their home town and is the only man never to have been tagged.

The story kicks off with Hoagie getting a janitorial job at Bob's company so he can tag him and drag him into his desire to make this the year that Jerry gets tagged. Bob is in the middle of an interview with a journalist from The Wall Street Journal, Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis). Rebecca becomes intrigued by this idea that the CEO of a major company could still be playing a childhood game and decides to follow the guys and see if there is a story. They get Sable and Chili involved and try to hatch a plan to tag Jerry. They plan to use Jerry's wedding as a way of knowing where he will be. A fun romp ensues involving Jerry's cunning escapes, wild plans from the rest of the group, an old flame of Chili and Bob's and more.

I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. There a lots of funny moments and the story is quite touching in that it is really about keeping a childhood friendship group alive over the years, which is a struggle for most of us. The cast really make this film come alive with great comedic performances from Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm and Isla Fisher, plus some nice touches from the rest of the cast, including Hoagie's mom (Nora Dunn). The script is funny, fast paced and tells the story well. There are also some quality stunts and action sequences which add to the fun. My only criticism was that somewhere along the line (possibly from the studio) a decision was made to include more gross out/sexual humour than was really necessary, obviously trying to attract the Hangover crowd. This is a minor quibble but the film would have been more suited to a broader audience without it. It was R rated in the US, but only M here, but some of the humour must have pushed it close to an MA.

If you are looking for a fun comedy to enjoy with your older teenagers, this film will serve you well.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The video quality is very good.

The feature is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio in 1080p.

This film looks good on Blu-ray (upscaled to 4K) with colours at the better end of the spectrum for SDR material, nice sharpness and detail and a generally blemish free presentation. I did notice two spots of motion based pixelization, one example being at 51:00 as the golf carts race across the course with the forest behind them.

There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired, German for the hearing impaired, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish which are clear and easy to read.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The audio quality is very good, but quite a bit louder than other soundtracks, requiring me to turn down my amp.

This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1, a descriptive audio track in Dolby Digital 5.1 and a German Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The film had an Atmos track at the cinema but this has not been provided on the local release or the US one for that matter.

Dialogue was a but muffled at times requiring the use of the subtitles. The music seemed significantly louder than other components of an already loud soundtrack, sometimes to the point of being disruptive. Generally, the track was well done with good atmosphere.

The surround speakers were well used for music and action sequences, without being a demonstration disc.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

A small collection of extras are included.

Meet the Real Tag Brothers (5:22)

A featurette on the actual guys who inspired the movie, featuring real footage of them playing plus interviews discussing the rules and how they have used it to keep their friendships going over the years. Best of the extras.

Deleted Scenes (6:19)

Extra silliness, some amusing moments but nothing that should have been left in the film.

Gag Reel (8:04)

A set of stuff-ups and on-set silliness plus some alternate dialogue. Not overly funny.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

This movie is available globally seemingly in the same or very similar format.

Summary

A surprisingly funny comedy which works mostly due to some nuttiness from a great cast.