Welcome to Mooseport is a very bland comedy and its a waste of time. The small town of Mooseport, Maine has become the retirement town for President Monroe "Eagle" Cole (Gene Hackman). After losing his bid for reelection, his political career is resurrected when the community asks him to run for mayor of the town. His arrival in the town and attention to a local veterinarian (Maura Tierney) kicks off a feud with her boyfriend, a local hardware store owner (Ray Romano) who decides to take on the former President in the election. Can the local boy beat the odds to take on the favorite both in the election and win back the woman he loves? The plot is nothing new and you can probably figure out what happens easily. The best thing the film has going for it is its cast. Gene Hackman is a very talented actor but he can't save this film. Marcia Gay Harden performance was okay but, I still don't see why everyone calls her a great actress, she's good but not great. Ray Romano made about three funny jokes throughout the film and his character is very annoying. Maura Tierney did an okay job but there was no chemistry at all between her and Ray and I never understood why her character would like him. The film is 110 minutes long and its rare for comedies to be long and still manage to be enjoyable as this film proves that. Most of the scenes were boring and by the end of the movie I didn't care who won the election. There was no character development and the actors didn't seem to be enjoying themselves either. Donald Petrie directs and moves the film at such a slow pace but he has directed some enjoyable movies before. The script needed some work like try adding something new or enjoyable. I did like some of the scenes like the golf one but in the end this film was a wasted opportunity. Rating 3/10 fans of Ray's show will probably like it but everyone else should avoid it.
Review of Welcome to Mooseport
