WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT
Directed by Donald Petrie

Now in theatres

(***)
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Written By: John H. Foote
There is a small town charm throughout this film that is utterly delightful.
   Is it great art?

   Nope, but I seriously doubt when any of the cast signed on to make the film they thought they were making a film that would earn them Oscars. What they signed on for was an enjoyable audience pleasing comedy with a nice message in there for everyone to take home, and that is exactly what director Donald Petrie delivers.
 
  The ex-President of the United States, Monroe Cole (Gene Hackman) is pondering what to do now that he has left office. While he has many lucrative offers for speaking engagements and books, he also wants to enjoy his retirement. The most popular President since Kennedy, Cole decides to take a break from it all in Mooseport at his vacation home. Once there he if offered the job of Mayor by the local town council, with hopes of replacing their recently deceased Mayor with the former leader of the free world. The President’s staff urges him to decline the offer, but his competitive streak grabs him, and when he learns he is running against the owner of the local hardware store, Handi Harrison (Ray Romano) he decides to make a race of it. Harrisonis prepared to remove himself from the race when he learns the former President is running, but when the President hits on his girlfriend Sally (Maura Tierney) he finds his own competitive streak baring its ugly fangs.
  
With a staff of crack political advisors on his side, the edge must go to the President, who rightly feels he can crash any of his opponents. What does Harrison have? Well, for one thing he has the endorsement of the former First Lady (Christine Baranski) still bitter and hostile over the divorce from the President, and angrily after her piece of the very large financial pie he is about to cut into.
  
The campaign for Mayor brings out the worst in each man, and of course, they recognize this, which is where the filmmakers sneak in their lesson, which by the end of the film is as obvious as Romano’s nose.
 
  That said, along the way we are treated to some pretty funny moments, some fine acting, and a touching love story on both sides that, while does not catch us off guard, certainly ends in an unconventional manner.
  
Romano is terrific as Harrison, portraying the role with the same sort of self effacing humour he brings to his character on Everybody Loves Raymond. Here he is everyman; a decent small town man who believes in America, and particularly believes that there is a part of the American dream for him. He runs a clean race because he is a decent man, honest to a fault, and if he has a fault it is that he is afraid of risk, which is the very thing that has driven away Sally.
 
  Hackman rarely gets a chance to flex his comic muscles, but when he does, he simply reminds us why he is among the greatest actors in the history of the cinema. He was superb in Young Frankenstein (1974) as the blind hermit, and should have won an Oscar for The Royal Tanenbaums (2001) a couple of years back. Here he is wonderful as a man who has walked the corridors of power, made decisions that impacted on the free world, and is now running against the man who fixes his toilet for the role of Mayor. He finds it very difficult to get his ego and head around the fact that he himself has made it possible for such things to happen in the United States. Hackman brings just the right amount of bluster and credibility to the role; very few actors can portray the President, but Hackman makes you believe that he is indeed has been the President.
  
There are some nice supporting performances in the film; though shining the brightest is Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden, just marvelous as the President’s assistant, Sutherland. So consumed in the race for Mayor is he that he cannot see the feelings this woman has for him, which we see in their first sequence together. I found it refreshing to see Harden in such a warm and comedic role after her tortured Oscar winning supporting performance in Pollock (2000) and in her Oscar nominated turn in Mystic River(2003). There is a twinkle in her eye, a bounce in her movement, and warmth in her final scenes with Hackman.
  
I would by lying if I did not say it delighted me to see so much of my hometown Port Perry throughout the film. The main street is the same street I wave walked down many a time, the hardware store the same I have been in many times, Dana’s Goldsmithing, The Nutty Chocolatier, the Post Office subbing for the town hall; Port Perry is very well represented here. The only thing missing from the small town atmosphere portrayed in Welcome to Mooseport was the smells.
  
Easy going fun.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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