Welcome To Mooseport (DVD)

...Certificate -

Welcome to Mooseport is rated PG in the UK, due to some very brief sexual comments (pretty mild stuff) and IMDB says nudity, though I definitely do not remember any of that! it is PG so its obviously not got anything very offensive or strong in it, I'm not sure what the nudity was but I would say that this movie is very inoffensive and should be fine for slightly older children of about nine or ten upwards. Apart from ...
...be interested in the movie otherwise, apart from a couple of brief appearances in it of an actual Moose which they might find cute, the story is perhaps a bit boring for paritcularly young children who wouldn't understand but for anyone aged nine or ten upwards, it should be fine.

- Official Website -

The official website seemed to be the name of the movie with .com at the end but now it just seems to link back to the ... more

- Introduction -

I heard about this movie through another Ciao reviewer here, who also reviewed it. It sounded pretty amusing and as I'm quite a fan of Everybody Loves Raymond, which stars one of the main stars of this movie (Ray Romano), I decided I'd see if I could get it cheap, so when I spotted a second hand DVD on sale for under £3, I thought what the heck, lets give it a go. This is what its all about and what I thought of it.

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361925/fullcredits)

Director - Donald Petrie
Writer - Doug Richardson (story) and Tom Schulman (screenplay)
Producers - Marc Frydman, Basil Iwanyk, Tom Schulman
Associate Producer - David Holden
Executive Producers - Mortiz Borman, David Coatsworth, Doug Richardson, Rory Rosegarten,
Line producer (additional photography) - Michael Beugg
Line producer (reshoots) - Steven Brown
Cinematography - Victor Hammer

- Story (incl. some of the acting cast) -

This movie is all about the former President of the United States, Monroe Cole (played by Gene Hackman), who visits the small town of Mooseport in Maine as a former resident. When the towns mayor dies, he's offered the job to replace him as mayor, which he decides to go for, only to discover that his opponent is the local bumbling plumber, Harold 'Handy' Harrison (played by Ray Romano), who first bumped into him when fixing the toilets at the former Presidents new pad. When Harold finds out he'd be up against the former President, he politely withdraws from the election. However he becomes annoyed when the President asks Harolds long standing girlfriend, Sally (played by Maura Tierney), out on a date and so he decides not to withdraw and to stand against him instead.

Which will win, the former US President or the guy who works in the local hardware store and fixes toilets for a living but that everyone in the neighbourhood knows? and what about Sally? will Harold lose her to Monroe? of course you'll have to watch the movie to find out.

- Genre/Themes/Issues -

This is a slightly quirky visual comedy movie, that is obviously about politics in part and also about the dynamics in a small town community.

- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -

This is a pretty corny and sentimental movie but it is also mildly amusing. The roles are less than challenging, especially for Ray Romano and Maura Tierney, who's characters are similar to the ones their most famous for ie Ray Romano plays the goofy, bumbling guy next door type, quite similar to Ray Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, whereas Maura Tierney plays a pretty headstrong and stand-off'ish character in Sally, similar to her character of Abbey Lockhart in ER.

Its quite amusing watching some scnees with the President having to deal with his ex wife Charlotte (played by Christine Baranski), who makes things awkward for him and scenes like one of the President debating against 'Handy' Harold with the two of them playing rock, scissors, stone.

It is pretty sentimental and slushy in parts, with Harold trying to win back Sally and her trying to show him that things have changed etc. though it is still pretty enjoyable never the less and though it hardly breaks any new ground, you should find yourself chuckling at some points in the movie, which makes it worth watching if it comes on TV at some point, though I wouldn't say that its worth spending all that much on the DVD. Its basically an average to pretty decent all round inoffensive, light hearted family movie, that isn't really anything all that new but isn't entirely fall right asleep boring either.

If you like Ray Romano in Everybody Loves Raymond, then you should enjoy this. I also thought that it was quite funny to see Gene Hackman play such a comedic role, as before I only knew of him from action movies, so this seems to be something a little different for him but I feel he did quite well at playing the President, who comes off as a light hearted and jolly sort of a guy. There are points in the movie where either him or his aides suggest doing things that are less than fair or wholesome and when this happens, another character is quite shocked and tries to dissaude him and remind him that its very much not like him to do such things, its there that the political aspect comes into play I suppose, to highlight some elements of corruption present in politics, even the kindest people may be tempted to do something devious just to win but overall Monroe comes off as being pretty likeable .

- Certificate -

Welcome to Mooseport is rated PG in the UK, due to some very brief sexual comments (pretty mild stuff) and IMDB says nudity, though I definitely do not remember any of that! it is PG so its obviously not got anything very offensive or strong in it, I'm not sure what the nudity was but I would say that this movie is very inoffensive and should be fine for slightly older children of about nine or ten upwards. Apart from anything else, I wouldn't think that very young children would be interested in the movie otherwise, apart from a couple of brief appearances in it of an actual Moose which they might find cute, the story is perhaps a bit boring for paritcularly young children who wouldn't understand but for anyone aged nine or ten upwards, it should be fine.

- Official Website -

The official website seemed to be the name of the movie with .com at the end but now it just seems to link back to the 20th Century Fox online store, where it just gives a synopsis of the movie and allows you to purchase it but that site quotes prices in dollars and so is mainly for US residents. I can't see another alternative official site, so if your interested, I'd recommend you check the IMDB entry for the movie instead, which can be found here:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361925/

Here you'll find photos, quotes, trivia, other user reviews etc.

- Conclusions -

If you can stand the sentimentality and dont mind seeing Ray and Maura play somewhat similar characters, then you should get some laughs from this. Its nothing much to write home about per se but the story is enough to keep you interested to watch through to the end. It could be categorised as generally light comedy fluff but as that, its pretty good and its always nice to have another film you can play in front of and enjoy with, pretty much the whole family and know no-one will get offended by it. I would say that if you like the sound of the cast, or the film in general, then watch out for it on TV or see if, like me, you can get a second hand DVD of it cheap. For a couple of quid its worth it, for much more? probably not. Also once you've seen it once, I don't feel its the sorto f movie that your really going to want to watch all that many times, maybe once or twice again but thats probably about all. The DVD does have a few extras, like out takes and deleted scenes, so it is worth buying if you can get it as cheaply as I did but otherwise, I wouldn't go out of your way to get it and would perhaps settle for renting it or waiting for it to shown on TV instead perhaps.

Its basically a pretty decent all round inoffensive, light hearted family movie, that isn't really anything all that exciting or entirely original but isn't entirely fall right asleep boring either. I think thats about all I can say about it.

I hope that this review is useful and thanks, as always, for reading! 

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