Review: Welcome to Mooseport

Welcome to Mooseport (2004) ** out of 5 asterisks
Director: Donald Petrie (Grumpy Old Men, Miss Congeniality)
Starring: Ray Romano, Gene Hackman, Maura Tierney

I really wanted to like this movie. It had some good things going for it, like having a comedy-savvy director and a cast known for comedic roles. But either something went wrong during production or maybe it was just a bad script to begin with. This film is simply not believable -- it's contrived and dull. It's described as a comedy, and there are indeed some comedic moments thanks to the cast performances. But most of the movie you feel like you're waiting for a punchline that never gets delivered. My advice: skip this one and watch fan-favorite episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond or NewsRadio (starring Romano and Tierney, respectively), or some of Hackman's better comedic performances in Heartbreakers and The Birdcage.