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This is the kind of film that looks like it's gonna absolutely stink. Indeed, that's exactly what I expected, before watching this Jeff Tomsic directed comedy. The knowledge that it was based on a real life game of tag, while wholesome, didn't exactly set my expectations ablaze with anticipation.

I'm glad to say, that, on this occasion, I was wrong. Is the film a masterpiece? Certainly not. But what it is, is extremely fun and entertaining. It takes its quite frankly very brittle premise, gives it a little extra depth, a lot more shenanigans, and then turns up the ridiculousness level by ten.

I do think that the film underutilised certain elements of one of its characters; the would-be antagonist, so-to-speak, but the film still provided a whole load of over-the-top and light-hearted action for audiences to enjoy. I had been worried about the basic nature of the narrative, but was pleased that there was a clear attempt to add subplots too.

Along that line of thinking, while I wouldn't say it was exceptional or anything, I did think that the story gave the film something more than the basic framework of the game to build upon. Yes, it was a little reliant on its action set-pieces, but that was somewhat inevitable, due to the film's subject matter. The wholesome nature of the film helped add more than just a few laughs too, which is always a positive note.

I sometimes have quite mixed feelings about Ed Helms as an actor. Much like some other comedy actors, I can find him very irritating. However, for the most part, I thought he gave a pretty solid account of himself. He didn't over-do it, and let the action do the work. This was an enjoyable performance from him.

John Hamm and Jake Johnson had more comedic chemistry than I anticipated, but it was slightly odd seeing those two interact on-screen. I enjoyed both of their performances though, albeit Johnson always feels like the same guy in every film. Meanwhile, despite a relative lack of screentime, Jeremy Renner was a lot of fun to watch. His voice over work was particularly amusing, and his action scenes were predictably good.

There were a few other people worth mentioning too; such as Hannibal Buress, who really should've had a bigger and better role. He was the only one of the main characters who felt really underutilised. I loved the three women's involvements, I thought that Annabelle Willis, Isla Fisher, and Rashida Jones, all added a lot of value with their respective performances.

Overall, I must admit that I actually quote enjoyed this. I won't pretend like it's the best comedy ever, but it was most definitely a pleasant surprise. It's one hundred minutes of silly, good-natured comedy, which looked like a lot of fun to film, and was certainly fun to watch.