Toby Uecker

In its one-day engagement at the Brookings Cinema 5, Duct Tape Forever brought three audiences an afternoon of laughter with little thought necessary.

The show stars Steve Smith and Patrick McKenna as Red and Harold Green, two characters familiar to fans of Public Broadcasting’s “The Red Green Show.”

Characters like a lonely forest ranger, the ambitious owner of a septic sucking firm and an ex-con round a cast that is as eclectic as it is funny.

The first full-length feature for the PBS favorite, Duct Tape Forever follows the antics of Red and his fellow Possum Lodge brothers in their effort to save their beloved lodge from the clutches of big city developers.

To win the money necessary to keep the lodge out of the developer’s hands, the Possum Lodge members decide to enter a duct tape sculpture of a goose in an international duct tape competition, and the movie follows the Red, Harold and the “Possum Van” through a “Dukes of Hazard”-like series of encounters with the bumbling county sheriff and his beautiful deputy.

While the movie’s direct story line and additional characters set it a bit apart from Red Green’s typical variety-show format of the television show, this new avenue works well to bring the simple, yet amazingly funny humor for which the Smith and his fellow actors are famous to a big screen audience.

A quick look around the theater on Saturday afternoon also showed evidence that the humor of Duct Tape Forever held appeal not only for the middle-aged men who can identify first-hand with the plights of the show’s main character but also for women and children of all ages.

Produced without the aid of a major production company or a big-name director, the film has a surprisingly strong handle on camera work and acting. It was plain to see that the cast of this show was enjoying their work.

If you’re looking for deeply meaningful insight to the human condition, this certainly is not the show for you. However, if you’re in the mood for a funny break from typical movie humor, keep Duct Tape Forever in mind.

4 stars