Hogan "Hoagie" Malloy (Ed Helms), Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), Randy "Chilli" Cilliano (Jake Johnson), Kevin Sable (Hannibal Buress), and Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner) have been engaged in a spirited game of tag since they were just nine years old, dating back to May of 1983. Over the years, the group's essential rule has remained intact: the last one to be tagged becomes "it" until the next season. This time around, with Hoagie being the last player tagged in the previous round, he takes the initiative to rally his friends. He starts by recruiting Bob, who serves as the CEO of an insurance company, followed by Chilli and Kevin, for one final attempt to tag Jerry, who is known for his athletic prowess and keen intelligence, making him nearly impossible to catch.
Complicating their mission, Hoagie reveals that Jerry plans to retire from the game due to his upcoming wedding. The plot thickens when Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis), a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, joins the group to document their extraordinary three-decade-long game of tag. Accompanying them is Hoagie's lively wife, Anna (played by Isla Fisher), adding an extra layer of excitement.
Upon their arrival in Spokane, Washington, the friends track down Jerry and attempt to lure him to a local country club, but they are soon outmatched by Jerry’s skills. To add to the complexity, Jerry introduces his fiancée, Susan, eliciting feelings of disappointment among his friends for not being invited to the wedding festivities. Jerry is acutely aware that he may be targeted during the ceremonies, so they strike a deal to refrain from playing tag during wedding activities in exchange for invitations.
Despite the agreement, the gang cannot resist making attempts to tag Jerry, both before and after wedding events. In one bold move, the group sneaks into his house, only to be outsmarted when Jerry feigns being in Hoagie's bedroom while he is actually in a meticulously crafted replica in his basement. In another attempt, Hoagie dresses as an elderly woman to ambush Jerry at the mall, but ends up humiliated.
The chaos continues at the rehearsal dinner when Jerry cleverly enlists the help of Cheryl Deakins (Rashida Jones), their high school crush, as a distraction. This leads to a series of unfortunate mishaps, where Hoagie, Chilli, and Kevin find themselves caught in painful traps set by Jerry. During this dinner, Susan drops a surprising bombshell: she is pregnant.
Feeling defeated, the friends regroup to devise a new strategy. They learn that Jerry attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and plan to crash his next one, set to take place on his wedding day. In a humorous yet tense moment, they lock all exits and disguise themselves as meeting attendees. Their plan almost succeeds until Jerry evades capture by retreating to the wine storage room, leading to an unforeseen emotional crisis when Susan appears to faint and potentially suffer a miscarriage.
However, it soon becomes evident that Susan's situation is genuine, prompting Jerry to exit the room. The group, misled by earlier distractions, mistakenly believes their plan has thwarted the wedding. But Anna, suspicious of the situation, leverages social media to uncover that the wedding is indeed still happening. Fueled by anger, they decide to crash the ceremony.
At the wedding, revelations come to a head when Susan confirms the pregnancy was a ruse—fulfilling the guys’ cravings for a competitive tag. In a final comedic confrontation, Hoagie makes a heroic yet clumsy attempt to tag Jerry right after he and Susan share their first kiss, which culminates in an accidental tackle of the pastor and a serious injury for Hoagie.
In a touching moment at the hospital, Hoagie gathers the group and reveals the truth: he fabricated the news about Jerry retiring because he wanted to reconnect with his friends after receiving a dire cancer diagnosis. Moved by this revelation, Jerry relinquishes his pride and allows himself to be tagged, kicking off a new round of their beloved game right there in the hospital. They modify the rules to include Anna and Rebecca, proving that the spirit of friendship and competition can endure through adversity.
As the credits roll, the audience is treated to a photograph of the real-life friends who inspired the film, showcasing that their game of tag continues to thrive to this day.
