Is Marriage Or Student Loan Debt The Ultimate Game of TAG?
In the new comedy TAG, five childhood friends are fighting to maintain their 20-year tradition: a never-ending game of TAG, where no one is safe at work, home, on the toilet—or their wedding. Based on a true story, TAG stars Ed Helms, John Hamm, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress and Jeremy Renner as the gang of “forever young” middle-aged men trying to end the winning streak of their friend Jerry, who has never been tagged.
Hoagie, played by Helms, hatches a plan to finally get Jerry at his wedding to Susan (Leslie Bibb) and it takes all of their collective cunning, scheming and underhanded strategy to make it happen. With nuptials being integral to the plot, BET asked the cast if marriage is its own game of tag where both parties get to be “IT” forever.
“That is very, very sweet. That is the nicest thing I’ve heard all day. I will go with that,” says Hamm, with Helms and Renner co-signing. “You’re both it. For eternity. You tag each other… repeatedly.”
However, their co-stars Isla Fisher and Leslie Bibb were split on the notion.
“You went super deep,” says Bibb, who says she is in a committed relationship but not married, by choice. Fisher, however, is married. “I hope that when you pick your person that [they are] it. Nobody likes a D-Town. And by D-Town I mean divorce.”
According to the cast, sometimes the ultimate tag isn’t marriage or a wedding. For Jake Johnson and Hannibal Buress the ultimate tags were things you could never get rid of.
“The ultimate tag is student loan debt,” says Buress. “They find you. They play [the game] well. When I started writing at Saturday Night Live they were like ‘Hey, we see you’re making money now.’”
“I think herpes. If you get herpes that’s the ultimate tag,” says Johnson. “You with somebody and you got herpes you got that for life. Tag! Your genitals are it. And maybe even your lips.”
TAG is in theaters June 15.
