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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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"Welcome to Mooseport "
|
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne
A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Video: |
1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
| Languages |
English,
Spanish |
| Subtitles |
English,
Spanish |
| Length |
115 minutes |
| Rating |
PG-13 for
some brief sexual comments and nudity |
| Release Date |
5/25/04 |
| Studio |
20th Century
Fox Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
By director
Daniel Petrie; deleted scenes commentary |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
"Inside Look: 'Garfield'" |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
6 deleted
scenes |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Outtakes
reel, mock commercial |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Gene Hackman,
Ray Romano, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski,
Rip Torn, Fred Savage |
| Written
By: |
Tom Schulman
|
| Produced
By: |
Tom Schulman
and Basil Iwanyk |
| Directed
By: |
Daniel Petrie
|
| Music:
|
John Debney
|
| The
Review: |
With Presidential elections closing
in fast, "Welcome to Mooseport" has excellent timing in examining
the absurdity of politics but not on a big scale. Instead,
we get to see it on the intimate small town scale. Handy Andy
(Ray Romano) is one of the most popular men in Mooseport because
he runs the local hardware store and does most of the plumbing
for the small town as well. He's popular with everyone but
his girlfriend Sally (Maura Tierney) the local vet. Seems
Handy can make a commitment to everything but his girlfriend
and she's tired of waiting. All that changes when ex-President
Monroe "Eagle" Cole (Hackman) settles in Mooseport. ***
He believes he's given up politics
for the time being. His main concern seems to be to keep his
ex-wife the former First Lady ( the delightful Christine Baranski)
from getting her hooks into everything he owns. Suddenly the
mayor who was running unopposed for re-election dies. The
town council votes unanimously to ask the President to run
for mayor. Realizing he can protect his summer home in Mooseport
from his ex-wife, he agrees. There's only one problem Andy
throws his hat in the ring. When the President makes a play
for his girlfriend not realizing she's with Andy, things become,
well, nasty. ***
A clever, agreeable comedy, "Welcome
to Mooseport" puts Hackman and Romano into a fun comedy based
on character and clever dialogue vs. bad puns and visual antics.
If you're expecting "Scary Movie 3" you'll be sadly disappointed.
You will, however, enjoy "Mooseport" if you get into the unusual
characters that populate the town. ***
|
| Image
and Sound: |
The transfer
looks pretty good overall with deep blacks and a nicely detailed
picture. The 5.1 sound mix isn't exactly inspired but it doesn't
need to be in this type of film. The overall sound quality is
pretty good with different sound effects and dialogue occasionally
appearing in other speakers. |
| The
Extras: |
We get 6 deleted scenes that are
still pretty funny. We get director Petrie's comments about
why the scenes were cut. Many of them were actually quite
funny but cut for running time. Petrie's comments provide
interesting insight particularly when it comes to Romano's
adlibbed quips. ***
We also get the full uncut television
commercial for "Soova" automobiles featuring "the Eagle" aka
the President (Hackman) in both English and Norwegian. As
if that isn't enough we also get the outtakes reel. There's
a couple of very funny outtakes including Ray Romano as Handy
being taunted by his "employees" because he's running against
two time Oscar winner Gene Hackman (and not the character).
We also get a glimpse at the new "Garfield" movie coming out
this summer in the "First Look" featurette included. ---
|
| Commentary:
|
Director
Petrie's been around for a while and directed some great comedies
so his comments about the way the actors interact and the various
adlibs that he had them perform which made the final cut are
quite interesting. Petrie believes in letting the scene run
until it peters out on its own and if that means his actors
have to adlib, so be it. The result includes a number of inspired
scenes in the film and also quite a few amusing ones that didn't
make the final cut. |
| Final
Words: |
A clever,
funny comedy, "Welcome to Mooseport" doesn't have the huge painful
belly laughs that we might except from, say, "Scary Movie" but
it does have a number of great chuckles. It's a well written
and performed comedy driven by character not by outrageous situations.
"Mooseport" is well worth watching if nothing else to see Hackman
and Romano interact. |
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