Red Green Is Special – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

redgreenispecial

First things first, I am a huge fan of this show. It has always been one of my favorites, and I could watch episodes of it all day. So that should give you some idea of where I’m coming from with this review.

That being said, this set is basically useless. It is three clip shows and a 90 minute reunion special. The clip shows are funny, because it’s the funny things from the show over the years, but if you’re a fan of the show it is nothing new. Sure you can get a few laughs out of the segments, but for me what made the show funny was the little 4 minute pieces of story that kept the show from just being a SNL/Mad TV type sketch comedy. And those are all but gone in this box set.

In the set you get Red Green, PHD DVD, Duct Tape Virtuoso Deluxe. This is pretty much 60 minutes of Handyman’s Corner. And let me tell you, it gets old after awhile. Sure Handyman’s Corner is funny and ingenious, but there has to be some sort of break. They do break it up a little bit by showing the interlude clips from the episode where they run out of duct tape. This is probably the best of the shows you get in the box set, so why not save they money and just buy this DVD.

Next up is We Can’t Help it, We’re Men. This one consists of sketches from “The Experts,” “The Possum Lodge Word Game,” and random male central jokes like usual. Again, it’s not that the stuff isn’t funny, it’s that a lot of the jokes from the show have some context during the show, and this clip style just completely takes any context away.

Then there is Hindsight is 20/20. I agree hindsight is 20/20, but in hindsight this box set probably shouldn’t have been thrown together. This is a full DVD of Red screwing up and other guys around the lodge doing the same. It takes a historical look, and treats it like a documentary. It goes through all the characters on the show and why those characters are complete lunatics. In this one however, the actors stay in character.

Then the big finale, We’re All in This Together. This is a 90-minute reunion special. They again show the progression of the show, but this time the actors are not in character and it acts more as a documentary than a mockumentary. They use clips from the show more than they actually show the guys from the show sitting and talking at the reunion show. Granted, if they just stayed on the reunion show, half the viewers would need to be resuscitated. I love Steve Smith, and he’s hilarious, but holy cow when he’s not in his Red Green persona he may be one of the driest personalities in the world.


Red Green Is Special is presented in 16:0 Widescreen format or regular 4:3 full screen with Stereo Sound.


3 of the 4 DVDs have extras on them.
On the Duct Tape DVD is a guided tour of a Duct Tape factory with Red.
There are also creations sent in from fans using duct tape.
There are also some behind the scenes comments from red, and some production photos.
On the Men DVD there is an hour of segments about Cars, some of which you’ll see again by just watching the regular DVDs and also about 30 minutes of other segments from the show.
Hindsight has the worst extras. During the DVD they show clips from the show, the extras are just the regular full version of the segment as it originally aired. There are also some clips from before the Red Green show.


Disappointing would be an understatement. I love the show, but this just doesn’t capture the magic. There are funny parts, I laughed a quite a few times, but it’s not as funny as the show and by the end when you’ve seen the same clip used in every one of the DVDs you start to question what is happening. The most diehard fans of the show are the only ones who should be subjected to this.

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Acorn Media Presents Red Green Is Special. Directed by Rick Green. Starring Steve Smith, Rick Green, and Patrick McKenna. Written by Steve Smith and Rick Green. Running time: 279 minutes. Released on DVD: May 12th, 2009. Available at Amazon.com.