Book Report 6: Tag

“Tag”, a movie that follows 5 different friends who decided that they want to stay friends even when grown up. And to do this, they will play the game ‘tag’ every May. That means they try and find each other and then try and tag each other during this time. And so comes the start of the movie, where we have an average person, a rich CEO, a drug addict, a not-mentally-sound person, and a sports star who runs multiple fitness campaigns. And the main plot, tag the fitness star because he has never been tagged.

The point of this movie is about how friendship will last through many different things, all you have to do is put in a bit of effort. Perhaps it’s always hanging out with them every weekend, or having an end of year meet-up so that you stay connected, or in this case, playing the game tag where you jobs, relationships, and even your life are at stake. 

At the beginning of the movie, we see the the average guy, Hogan “Hoagie” , begin his plan. First, quit his job as a veterinarian. Second, get hired as a janitor at Bob Callahan business. Third, get into his office and tag him. Fourth find and tag Randy “Chilli” Cilliano the drug addict, while trapping him with his really enthusiastic wife Anna. After tagging him, tag Kevin Sable, then, finally, tell everyone the plan of tagging the fitness sport star Jerry Pierce, who is retiring after this year due to him getting married. And so they try multiple times to trap and catch Jerry. During this time they pick up Rebecca Crosby, a wall street journalist as well. And so begins their many attempts to trap and tag Jerry, and like every year, they all lead to failure. In fact, the very degree that Jerry has planned out that year is insane. Like, he has many different body doubles, traps, practised out fighting abilities, a copy of Hogan’s room in his basement, and in general, just an over the top amount of gear to not be it. And so of course, with all these preparations,a Hogan’s plan completely fails. Jerry ended up having to many different tricks, and with an amendment so that there is no tagging during the wedding, Jerry just can’t be tagged. Well, until the end when the fact that Hogan has a tumour on his liver and the fact that his life is going to last for about 3 more weeks after may ends. Which also finally leads to Jerry being tagged, and their friendship being healed.

During the movie, we discover that everyone has their private lives and secrets that no one else knows. For instance, Jerry is going to alcoholics anonymous. And Bob carries around thousands of dollars like it’s nothing. Or Kevin and the fact that he has trust issues, and a bunch of other issues. Or Randy and the fact that he is actually the only really ‘normal’ person there. Oh and Hogan and the fact that he will die really soon but won’t tell his friends because he doesn’t want to ruin the game. What this showed me is how different people can be, and yet still be close friends. And it also showed me an example of people keeping secrets from others and it not really leading to all that much trouble. And so we learn that as friends; you can only be so close. There will always be something that keeps you apart. Which just proves the point, that even if your apart, with the effort you putt in, you can all remain friends, even if the secrets are rather bad.

Another thing I realised from this movie is how damn important friends are. Like, I knew they were important, but these people took it to a whole new level. They decided, as said before, to play the game tag even started the cost of, well, a lot of different things. This shows how they knew staying as friends was important, and that they had to put the effort in. In particular, Hogan definitely knew this. The reason being he kept on saying how “this game of tag isn’t just a game, it is a show of friendship, working together, and knowing each other”. He knew, as the quote says, that the game tag isn’t just a game, it is the effort they put into staying friends. Without it, their friendship will die. So, by playing the game, and putting some effort into it, they are basically saving them selves from loneliness, and keeping themselves happy. That is why Hogan wants everyone to put in so much effort, and created his plan. He knew, they had to do this so as to not only stay as friends, but as to make sure the stayed happy in life.

“Tag”, a movie about 5 friends with many secrets who play tag every may in an attempt to stay close teaches us this: No matter how close you might be able to get, there will still be many secrets between friends. And that even if there are secrets, you can still remain as friends. Then it also taught us how important friends are, and that people want to be together, along with how being with your friends is a great way to stay happy in life. And so from this, remember, put in a bit of effort and you will be friends for a life time. Put in no effort at all, and the friendship will die. And finally, I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a pretty cool friendship in action. 

2 Comments

  1. Hi Logan, I appreciate some of the connections and judgments you have made about this text, however, more personal involvement is needed in this response overall. See if you can adjust this response to include your thoughts about this text. Speak with me if you have any questions.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *