Welcome to Mooseport

Starring: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Fred Savage, Maura Tierney
Directed by: Donald Petrie
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
2004

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: When a former U.S. President (Gene Hackman) moves to quiet Mooseport, the citizens convince him to run for mayor. However, a local hardware store owner (Ray Romano) decides to run against him.

Review:

Tim: This is a very disappointing comedy. The whole film has a made-for-TV feel that ruins the enjoyment of the movie. It was done poorly and in lazy fashion.

I love Ray Romano and I hope he has a large and illustrious film career. But, as is often the case with TV actors working on a movie career, he unfortunately plays the exact same character as he does on "Everybody Loves Raymond." It was the safe but boring choice. He is a charismatic, funny guy who is also kind of a big baby and a whiner. He didn't change the character very much at all. He even has a stronger, tougher wife who bosses him around, this time played by Maura Tierney. It was amazing to see the similarities.

Gene Hackman is decent, but this was a questionable role for him to take. He seems to feel trapped in a bad movie and nothing he can do will help. He then proceeds to do very little to help.

There are some good aspects to the film. Hackman and Romano are pretty funny together and have the best moments of the film. The play off each other very well. The movie does have some interesting concepts. I like having an ex-president agree to be a mayor but then gets caught in an election where to drop out would make him look ridiculous and to lose would be political suicide.

Welcome to Mooseport is not very funny and is a weak, silly movie. It needed to be a whole lot better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Ice Age, My Fellow Americans, Runaway Jury