Customer Reviews

Welcome To Mooseport (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Simply put, Mooseport is a bad movie. Far fetched, not funny, slow-paced and boring. A waste of 90 minutes of my life. This is why this movie went straight from the theaters to DVD and HBO. Ray Romano's poor acting (as "Handy" the plumber) in particular ruined the movie. Romano was dull, lifeless and easy to root against. If it was not for Gene Hackman, who as usual, does a great job, I would have quit after the first 30 minutes. If you want to check this out, I would wait until the DVD hits the 5 dollar rack at your local Wal-mart/Target.

Director: Donald Petrie
Cast: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski, Fred Savage, Rip Torn.
Running Time: 115 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for some language and gross elderly nudity (just an old man's behind).

"Welcome to Mooseport" has enough charm and some quirky moments to make those who are fans of Ray Romano's "Everybody Loves Raymond" television show giggle somewhat, but ultimately it is caught trying to be a comedy that does not have much scripted humor and relies too much on Romano to get laughs just because of his fame. Gene Hackman is well-casted as Monroe "Eagle" Cole, one of the most famed former Presidents of the United States of America, who has moved to the small Maine town of Mooseport due to a sloppy divorce that left him without his Baltimore home. Ray Romano stars as Handy Harrison (who happens to be a handy man-go figure), a goofball that knows the ins-and-outs of the town, but does not know when to commit to his long-time girlfriend Sally (Maura Tierney).

When Mooseport's mayor suddenly passes away, "Eagle" Cole is asked to take on the assignment. He accepts, but only because of the good public press he would receive. Handy Harrison names himself a candidate as well when Cole asks Sally out for a date, leading both men into a sequence of idiosyncratic campaign stunts that involve televised mayoral debates (?) and golf matches to win over women. "Welcome to Mooseport" is a film that is enjoyable for younger teenagers and adults that grew up watching Hackman during his prime, but ultimately it is an unfunny attempt to draw on the success of "Everybody Loves Raymond". Romano is actually the weaker of the two lead stars, either because he was not given the ability to shine in a somewhat limited role, or because in reality his television show is a triumph because of his overwhelmingly talented supporting cast in the first place. An average film and that is being generous.

This is what one might call a "work movie" or an excercise in filmmaking. WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT has an impressive cast from Ray Romano, Gene Hackman, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Rip Torn, and Fred Savage. However, the plot is predictable and the characters are one-dimensional. Hackman plays ex-President of the United States, Monroe Cole. He has retired to Mooseport, Maine and is asked by the local citizenry to run for a vacated Mayor's position. Then, he finds himself running against the local hardware store/plumber owner Handy Harrison played by Ray Romano. Then, the writers throw in a lame side-plot of Cole trying to win the heart of Handy's fiance (Tierney). Handy/Romano is so likeable and low-key in the movie that he gets lost amongst the townspeople and his co-workers at his hardware store during most of the movie. Hackman as ex-President Cole has the proverbial phoned-in performance. The real stand-out comedic performance is that of Fred Savage (tv's THE WONDER YEARS) as Coles's aid, Bullard. The most striking thing about the film is that there is no bite in the script and the dialogue is very bland as is the interaction of the characters. The production values and location shots are great in capturing the small town atmosphere, but that's all. Overall, a comedy/romance film that is just a vehicle to cash in on Ray Romano's tv persona. Therefore, it plays like a made-for-tv movie, it plays it too safe, and thus is a very forgettable tax write-off 20th Century Fox.

The premise is juvenile, the story line is absurd, and the characters make no sense. Any atempt at humor falls flat. A naked man jogging thorugh town every morning, an almost deaf man proposing the president but voting for the protagonist, an ex-wife who shows up out of the blue, a love-starved presidential assistant, saccharine wholsomeness . . . a waste of 2 hours.

The comic firepower of "Welcome to Mooseport" sounds more like a whimper than a bang, thanks in no small measure to an instantly forgettable performance by the eternally nagging Romano. The girl-friend squabble (how novel) between Gene Hackman and Romano's characters is too dragged out and unbelievably phony. A faulty sitcom stretched into nearly two excruciating hours, almost, but that doesn't really matter as every twist and turn can be seen from a mile away. Which is sad because most of the cast has done quite well elsewhere and was just tragically frittered away on this wet noodle.

On Tuesdays me and my friends always rent or buy the new DVD releases that come out. THANK THE LORD we rented this one. I love Gene Hackman, but even ol' Gene couldn't save this one. Definitely one of the worse rentals I have seen this year. I would reccomend you stay away from Mooseport!

Poor Ray Romano gets his first big film with great actors and it's a sad flop. Sure, there is Gene Hackman playing his funny reprisal from "The Birdcage", but Ray is lost without his TV family. The plot is simple - both Ray and the ex-Prez Hackman are running for mayor of the small town of Mooseport, but the laughs are few. Most tragic of all is the wasting of Marcia Gay Harden as Hackman's assistant and Rip Torn is reduced to a minor role. It is a large cast of good B-actors as well. This film could have been something big, but the writing just wasn't there. There are lots of extra, like deleted scenes and such, but they don't add anything to the film that might have been.

All I wanted was a bit of humor and a bit of Maine atmosphere. This movie had neither. It was dull, unfunny,and unbelievable. My daughter and I looked at each other after 45 minutes and just said, Kill it.

Don't waste your time or money on this movie. It is the worst movie I've seen in over a year, hands down(and I've seen Paycheck). It's boring and stupid beyond belief. I can't believe so many known actors were in the same film.

Gene Hackman is ok. Ray Romano is bland, I felt nothing for his character whatsoever. The plot, or lack of same, is absolutely horrific.

I happened to catch this snoozefest while on my way back home from Alaska, cooped up on a plane with little to do except watch a barely likable film like this one. I mean, it is far from what I was expecting. I'm a pretty big fan of Ray Romano's work on `Everybody Loves Raymond' and so I was expecting a lot from him, comedically (a word I made up for the flow of this review), and I always expect a lot from Gene Hackman, who is one of the greatest actors to ever grace the world of film. Add to the mix the always delightfully grounded Miss Harden and the beautiful Maura Tierney (give her more work, please) and you have high expectations from yours truly. Instead I got a barely lukewarm `family flick' with no spice and no real charm either. In fact, the laughs are barely audible (my biggest laugh came at the idea of Ray Romano being considered `eye candy') and the very clichéd concept of the film itself is begging for something to add at least some texture to the movie. It is a complete disaster, which is sad considering the talent involved. It's not that `Welcome to Dullsville...err...Mooseport' is a bad film, it's just that it really isn't much of anything. It is a forgettable slice of tofu pie.