Everybody's a critic - 'Welcome to Mooseport'

Three and a half stars (out of four)

Take an ex-president and his entourage, add one ex-wife, one hard-working plumber, a beautiful female veterinarian, and put them all into the throes of a mayoral race in a small town Maine and you have the makings for trouble with a capital T.

The result is "Welcome to Mooseport," which has a storyline that reveals how power, naivety and romance combine to create a movie filled with light-hearted entertainment.

For ex-President Monroe "Eagle" Cole (Gene Hackman), the mayoral race is all about the glory, power, ratings and money. For his opponent, Handy Harrison, (Ray Romano), small town life, work and girlfriend Sally are all he needs. Unfortunately Handy has never gotten around to asking Sally to marry him, so when the Eagle starts making moves on his girl, Handy has a prime opportunity to show Sally and the entire town what's really in his heart.

With a combination of characters that work well together, there seems to never be a dull moment in "Mooseport" and that's a welcome sight to see.

- Lolita Hayes, floral designer

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HH 1/2 (out of four)

Ray Romano and Gene Hackman star in this family-loving comedy about the average man vs. the big bad politician. Handy Harrison (Ray Romano) is Mooseport's beloved town plumber. When Handy decides to run for mayor to help out his needy town, he never imagined he would be running against the former President Monroe Cole (Gene Hackman). President Cole was forced to run for mayor through a public relations mix up that could possibly hurt his reputation if he declined. When Handy's girlfriend Sally gets caught in the middle, an all-out campaigning battle lets loose. This light comedy is very family oriented. I have in fact seen Ray Romano do much better, and I think this movie did not do him justice. Although the humor seemed somewhat corny, this is a movie I would take my grandmother to see.

- Leslie Shain, student

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One star (out of four)

"Welcome to Mooseport" has the potential to be a comical powerhouse, however the sparks never occur. Eagle Cole (Gene Hackman) plays a popular two-term president who is forced to retire in Mooseport after losing his Baltimore house in a divorce. Who better to run for a recently vacated mayor position than a former president? All is fine until Handy Harrison (Ray Romano), the local hardware store owner and handyman also decides to run. Complicating matters, Eagle begins hitting on Handy's girlfriend.

If you are a Ray Romano fan, you would be better off spending the 110 minutes this movie takes watching four episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond." If you want to see the movie, stop reading here. Otherwise boy gets girl, president become mayor and all live happily ever after, unless Handy decides to run for governor (last scene). If that means a sequel: DON'T DO IT RAY!

- Walt Paquin, professor