Nothing much happens in Welcome to Mooseport, but for a little less than two hours you can take a vacation with some very companionable people in a truly nice place.
Welcome to Mooseport (2004)
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Reviews Counted:143
Fresh:19
Rotten:124
Average Rating:4.2/10
Consensus: A bland comedy that squanders a talented cast.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some brief sexual comments and nudity
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Feb 20, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $14,244,145
Synopsis: The quiet, charming town of Mooseport, Maine is invaded by the former president of the country in this Capraesque comedy starring Ray Romano and Gene Hackman. Monroe "The Eagle" Cole (Gene Hackman)... The quiet, charming town of Mooseport, Maine is invaded by the former president of the country in this Capraesque comedy starring Ray Romano and Gene Hackman. Monroe "The Eagle" Cole (Gene Hackman) is a hugely popular Clinton-era former president, who retires to bucolic Mooseport, Maine after a bitter divorce from his wife (Christine Baranski). Coincidentally, Mooseport is in need of a new mayor and Cole steps in to what he thinks will be a one-man race and a much-needed publicity boost. However, local handyman and plumber Handy Harrison (Ray Romano) has entered the race as well, complicating the no-contest election. Handy is a beloved Mooseport local, well-liked but incapable of committing to his long-time girlfriend Sally Mannis (Maura Tierney). Sally has spent the last seven years waiting for Handy to propose and so, when a smitten Cole asks her out on a dinner date, she eagerly accepts in hopes of making Handy jealous. It works, turning the race into a personal and political rivalry as Handy fights not only the mayorship but also to regain Sally's heart. Supporting stars include Marcia Gay Harden and Rip Torn as members of Cole's staff, who help to launch a full-scale campaign in the town of less than a thousand people. [More]
Starring: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski
Starring: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski, Marcia Gay Harden, Fred Savage, Rip Torn
Director: Donald Petrie
Director: Donald Petrie
Screenwriter: Tom Schulman
Story: Doug Richardson
Producer: Tom Schulman, Basil Iwanyk, Mark Frydman
Composer: John Debny
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Welcome to Mooseport
Welcome to Mooseport makes ill use of Ray Romano, carelessly dismissing the comic persona he's spent years crafting on TV and the stand-up circuit.
In a comedy that could just as easily have been titled Grumpy Middle-Aged Men, Ray Romano and Gene Hackman are forced to make do with so-so material.
Too often the filmmakers insult the audience's intelligence with far-fetched plot points, not to mention an offensive stereotyping of Mooseport's residents as moronic local yokels.
Little more than a feature-length screen test for TV icon Ray Romano.
A comedy so wan and spiritless that even the ringing cell phones in the theater offer more entertainment.
The movie's leads are completely stranded by the humorless material and a glacial pacing that's about as exciting as an all-night filibuster orated by Orrin Hatch.
Director Donald Petrie and screenwriter Tom Schulman are masters of middle-of- the-road blandness. What they provide is harmless and occasionally worth a chuckle, but there's not much point in watching a movie when you already know every line.
Welcome To Mooseport, which resonates with a little light Frank Capra and a touch of Norman Rockwell Americana, is just good old-fashioned fun.
As directed by Donald Petrie, the movie and its characters are amiable and cute when they need to be offbeat and zonked.
Instead of a madcap farce, the movie grinds along into a series of laboured comic bits.
It’s all so idiotic as to be laughable, except that when comedies go bad... they’re painful and headache-inducing...
To say that Welcome to Mooseport plays like a lost episode of TV's Northern Exposure does not do justice to that show.
Petrie deadens any possible momentum or energy; he can't even make one of our greatest actors, Gene Hackman, appear presidential.
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