Welcome to Mooseport (2004)

My Review

Gene Hackman plays a newly-retired U. S. President who moves to his vacation home in Maine but gets talked into running for the local mayor job in “Welcome to Mooseport.” This formulaic and predictable political comedy does have some laughs, thanks to passable direction by Donald Petrie (“Miss Congeniality” 2000) and a mediocre screenplay by Tom Schulman. It was filmed in Ontario, Canada.

The cast includes Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Fred Savage, Rip Torn, Christine Baranski, June Squibb, and Edward Herrmann. The barely watchable “Welcome to Mooseport” was a flop at the box office (and also with critics) for Intermedia Films and 20th Century Fox. It was the final film appearance for Gene Hackman. He made his big screen debut in 1964’s “Lilith,” a Columbia Pictures movie starring Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter, and Jessica Walter.