Welcome to Mooseport

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Welcome to Mooseport's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Welcome to Mooseport completed by Young Media Australia 8 May 2004.

Overall comments and recommendations

Welcome to Mooseport is a modern David vs. Goliath story. While there is a moral to the story in that being nice turns out to beat being important, it is also quite crude in parts. The humour is often not funny and is only moderately entertaining.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Welcome to Mooseport contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Newly divorced Monroe Eagle Cole has just stepped down as President of the USA and decides to move to his summer retreat in the small town of Mooseport, Maine. This is mainly due to the fact that ex-wife Charlotte is demanding the former marital home along with seven million dollars, rather than his preference for small towns. The folks of Mooseport are thrilled that “Mr. President” is coming to live in their town and go out of their way to make him welcome.

Cole arrives with his security entourage and is amused when the town’s leaders come to him with the proposal to be the new Mayor. Always a politician, Cole sees political advantage in this downward career move and graciously accepts the offer. However he, and the town’s leaders, are unprepared for him to be opposed in this election. His rival is all round ‘nice guy’ Handy Harrison, the local plumber and owner of Handy’s Hardware.

Cole’s publicity machine goes into overdrive to tackle this seemingly incontestable election. To make matters worse Cole takes a liking to Sally Mamis, local vet and Handy’s girlfriend for the past six years. Sally is at the point in the relationship where she’s tired of not being Handy’s wife, and so takes up Cole’s offer of a date.

Cole comes to learn that Handy is more than a formidable opponent in both areas. Handy also gets some support from ex-wife Charlotte who arrives on the scene to make sure it’s a ‘fair fight’.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, all set in a comic context:

• Handy bangs his head on the toilet cistern
• Sally punches Handy, knocking him down
• Cole holds a large knife in his hand and imagines attacking Charlotte with it. No blood is shown.
• Handy gets hit in the head with a golf ball
• Handy and Cole get into a punch up
• Sally knocks Handy and he falls into the garden
• Sally punches Handy in the arm.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

The only scary scene in this movie is the scene mentioned above, when Cole imagines attacking Charlotte with a knife.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened

Children in this age group could be scared by the knife attack scene also.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Children in this age group could also be scared by the knife attack scene, as it is only after the event that it becomes obvious that he is only imagining his attack.

Sexual references

There are several sexual references:

• After Sally goes out with Cole, she is asked by a reporter if she’s had sex with him yet.
• Handy interrogates Sally on why she’s wearing black underwear – after looking up her dress. He says that wearing black underwear is a sub-conscious indicator of her intentions.
• Handy delivers a box to Sally at the restaurant where she’s dining with Cole. Inside is a pair of knickers with a ban symbol painted on them.
• Handy’s dog is shown mating another dog. Handy tells him to “keep that thing in your body”.

Nudity and sexual activity

At the start of the movie an old man is shown running in the nude from behind. He appears again in another scene. (Quite irrelevant)

The only sexual activity is performed by the dogs.

Use of substances

There’s drinking of alcohol at a party, at a restaurant and at home.

Cole talks about growing marijuana as a youth.

Coarse language

There are several uses of coarse language including the following:

• Jesus
• crap
• holy crap
• butt
• bastard
• I’ll be buggered
• bitch
• shit
• Oh my God

The movie's message

The take home message is that genuineness and honesty is preferable to wealth and power.

Values parents may wish to encourage include:

• sincerity
• honesty

Values parents may wish to discourage include:

• fraud
• deception
• mean spiritedness
• taking vengeance
• manipulation
• ‘ownership’ and control of others.