Welcome To Mooseport

Review – Welcome To Mooseport pits comedian Ray Romano against the upper class talent of Gene Hackman in a race for mayor of a small Maine town.  It’s not the best of films but it’s funny and generally warm if not altogether heartfelt.

Welcome To Mooseport is funnier than I thought it could be.  I’m not a fan of Everybody Loves Raymond so I really wasn’t interested in this film but when I got behind it, and the cast unfolded before me, I was literally drawn to the entertainment factor.  Gene Hackman, Christine Baranski, Maura Tierney, Fred Savage, Marcia Gay Harden, and Rip Torn, all star, and I must say, make this film far more lively and entertaining than it could have been.

The storyline is simple.  Gene plays the newly retired President of the United States who after a bitter divorce falls back to his summerhouse in Mooseport, Maine, where he plans to relax and enjoy read the newspaper.  Mooseport is without a mayor and would like him to fill the bill.  He’s not interested until a chance meeting with a woman seems to set him on the electoral track.  Of course, misgivings and hilarity ensue.

Not much to offer, but a good laugh and an escape to a small New England town with limited problems and a sense of community seem to set the watcher at ease about our own problems.  Welcome To Mooseport is an entertaining time but not a well-crafted film experience.

-m-