So at first, Welcome to Mooseport struck me as Clinton-inspired. An ex-President running for mayor of his town? I could see it happening. As it turns out, they didn't make this president, played by Gene Hackman, a Clinton copy, or a Bush copy, either. His party is never identified, he never makes a political statement that would identify his leanings.
Unfortunately, while they didn't make the movie political (which was a relief), they didn't make it funny, either.
The Movie
Monroe Cole (Hackman) has finished his two terms in the White House with sky-high approval ratings, dozens of corporate board offers, massive book deals, a huge library in the works (all of them greater than Clinton's, his aides point out), and a shrieking bitch of an ex-wife (Christine Baranski) who's demanding he sell his beloved Mooseport, Maine home as part of the divorce settlement. Nope, I won't say it…
Cole refuses to part with his beloved home, so when the small town's mayor suddenly dies, he gets a brainstorm: run for mayor. It becomes the mayor's residence and he can't be forced to sell.
Problem is, the town's timid hardware store owner Handy Harrison (Ray Romano) has also decided to run. He did this not knowing he'd face a popular ex-President. Harrison has been dating veterinary assistant Sally Mannis (Maura Tierney) for six years and never worked up the gumption to propose. Now he has to face down the ultimate politician.
But he holds his own. In a debate, the issue of a stop sign on a street comes up. This is the kind of minutiae you get in small town elections. Cole goes on about committees and blue ribbon commissions and all the bull-, er, moose crap you'd expect from a politician, while Handy simply gets to the heart of the problem right there on stage and proposes a fix.
Through it all, Cole is trying to woo Sally, which drives his staffers -- Grace Sutherland (Marcia Gay Harden) and Bullard (Fred Savage, looking like an adult, finally) - further up a wall.
There are two problems with the movie. The first is it just isn't funny. The first hour is almost entirely flat and doesn't start to kick in until the first mayoral debate, when Sally's underwear gets discussed on open mikes. Romano, who has such a successful show, is an utter flop here. He has no chemistry with Tierney at all. Then again, she has little chemistry with anyone on ER so this is hardly news.
Nope, the movie is all Hackman, and he's hardly showing his Oscar-winning chops here. Once again he plays a smirking, smarmy jerk, like he's been doing for the past, oh, hundred years. Still, even though it's nothing new for him, at least he does take charge of the movie.
The second problem is that it doesn't treat small town America with a little respect. You can get away with jokes about the quirks of life outside of New York and L.A. if you do it with a little love of the folks, like in Fargo and Northern Exposure. Here, it comes off as the typical Hollywood arrogance toward people who don't live in the 310, 212 and 202 area codes (and maybe 617).
At 115 minutes, the movie is way too long to sustain the single joke of the campaign, and there are far too few laughs to be had as it is. But the film needed to be a taut 90 minutes and someone as equally forceful as Hackman to play off him.
Score: 4 out of 10
The Video
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video, Welcome to Mooseport looks fantastic. The scenery is gorgeous and it comes through bright, vivid and clear, in sharp detail throughout. You can see it in the trees, leaves and grass. They arrived in Maine at just the right time to do the filming.
Color levels are strong all around, including flesh tones and black levels, with only minor chroma noise around some of the many reds. This caused some occasional compression artifacts, but nothing serious. The print was free of ghosting, halos and any major edge enhancement. All told, it's excellent.
Score: 9 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Welcome to Mooseport comes in an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, plus French and Spanish two-channel audio and English and Spanish subtitles.
Since this is a character-driven comedy, the vast majority of the audio comes from the center channel. To that end, the audio is perfect, clean and clear of distortion, with voices coming through just fine, albeit a little on the quiet side. Other than having to turn up the receiver a little, the audio performed well.
There were a few instances of surround audio, such as crowded town meetings, and the surround channels worked just fine. All told, the audio does its job for a movie like this.
Score: 8 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
Welcome to Mooseport comes in an Amaray case, no insert. First up for the extras is a rather dry commentary track from director Donald Petrie. Aside from an incredibly dry, boring delivery, he doesn't do a whole lot beyond tell us what's on the screen. He does have some anecdotes - including one about the town streaker that I really didn't need to know - and points out all of Ray Romano's numerous improves, but all in all, it's not the best of commentary tracks.
There are six deleted scenes, with a play all option and commentary by Petrie. Some were cut because they didn't work, others were cut because of pacing. None were a great loss. One was a hilarious alternative scene to the voting booth scene that didn't go over well with older women in test audiences. You'll know why when you see it.
There's also a Norwegian car commercial that President Cole kept talking about doing in the movie and a two-minute gag reel of blown lines and stumbles all around. Finally, we have previews of upcoming Fox titles.
Score: 6 out of 10
