I was not familiar with "The Red Green Show", a long-running Canadian TV series, right when it started out in 1991, since I was only around five years old at the time, but became familiar with it a few years later, and watched it quite a bit for a while. However, I'm sure I haven't seen the vast majority of the episodes, and I didn't know about this movie based on the show until a few years after its release. I have finally watched it after six years, and since I hadn't seen any episodes of the show in a while, I wasn't sure what I would currently think of the Red Green humour. Also, looking at its rating here, I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised!
Robert Stiles is a big-shot executive who comes to Possum Lodge in his limousine, but when he arrives on the property, his vehicle gets stuck in a sinkhole! With some effort, the lodge members manage to get the limo out of that hole, but it goes right from there into the lake! Stiles sues Possum Lodge for the damage, and the members are found guilty by the judge! They will have to pay $10,000 within the next ten days, or else the lodge will be shut down! The lodge members then think of ways they could make that much money, and Red Green's nephew, Harold, informs the others about a duct tape sculpture contest taking place in the United States, where whoever comes in third will win the exact amount of money they need! After the lodge members are finished making a duct tape goose sculpture, Red, Harold, and Dalton Humphrey set out with it. However, Stiles is determined to have Possum Lodge shut down, and he has Sheriff Tompkins and Deputy Dawn on his side! So, on the way to the contest, the Sheriff and Deputy will make the trip more difficult, as they try to stop them from making it in time!
"The Red Green Show" is partially sketch comedy and partially a sitcom, and I wondered how turning the formula from that to a full-length story would work out. Movies based on TV shows sometimes don't work out too well, and I wouldn't have been surprised if "Duct Tape Forever" turned out to be an example of that. Fortunately, it didn't. The characters may not be able to carry the humour consistently throughout, but they usually do, and it's usually quite amusing, sometimes even hilarious! The main characters here are usually a big part of the humour, especially Harold with his usual goofy antics. The film also features a lot of slapstick to add laughs, and the bizarre things the characters from Possum Lodge on the road do to try and outsmart their enemies are sometimes very funny! Personally, I found that the film gets better after a while, eventually goes downhill a bit a while after that, but then picks up again.
Some may think "Duct Tape Forever" was a poor attempt to bring the characters from "The Red Green Show" to the movie format, but if you ask me, it worked, and this 2002 Canadian comedy is underrated. Yes, it is pretty silly, maybe more so than the show, but it's silly in a fun way. The premise may not be the greatest ever written, but this is a comedy, and there are plenty of laughs make up for it. The next thing I will say may not mean anything to most people, but for me it was interesting hearing Harold talk about James Bond, just after I watched a bunch of early Bond films! Anyway, if you're not a "Red Green Show" fan, then I doubt there's anything for you in this movie, but if you are a fan, you may still find "Duct Tape Forever" inferior, and that it doesn't work as well as a movie, but I can't see why you wouldn't find any amusement in it at all.
