Welcome to Mooseport: Welcome to Mooseport is such a blandly likable comedy that your grandmother could watch it and wish for a little sex and violence to keep her awake. Perhaps the phenomenal popularity of TV's Everybody Loves Raymond made Ray Romano proceed too cautiously in selecting this small-town comedy as his film debut; without a live audience and an endless supply of punchy one-liners at his disposal, his domestic everyman persona seems a bit lost, ill-defined and uncertain how to respond when a former U.S. President (Gene Hackman) (1) moves to the quiet, jovial Maine burg of Mooseport, where Romano's the beloved plumber and hardware store proprietor; (2) proceeds to make moves on Ray's long-time girlfriend (Maura Tierney, from ER); and (3) runs against our ol' pal Ray in Mooseport's homespun mayoral election. Hackman's got some stellar support from Marcia Gay Harden and Rip Torn (and, to a lesser degree, Fred Savage), and Tierney's a pleasure as always, but director Donald Petrie (Miss Congeniality) can't spin gold from straw; Tom Schulman's screenplay aims to please everyone, draining the energy from what might, in other hands, have been a deliciously devious premise. There's such a thing as being "niced" to death, and Welcome to Mooseport is proof. --Jeff Shannon

Joe Somebody: It's brains over brawn as Tim Allen reunites with The Santa Clause director John Pasquin for this amiable comedy about a devoted dad who almost lets his fists do the talking. After being humiliated by the office bully (played by The Tick's Patrick Warburton), corporate nebbish Joe Scheffer (Allen) vows revenge. He becomes an office celebrity, taking kung fu lessons with a has-been action star (Jim Belushi) and preparing for a rematch against his tormentor. Kid stuff, to be sure, but Joe Somebody benefits from Allen's Everyman appeal, especially when he's getting his values adjusted by a caring colleague (Julie Bowen, from TV's Ed), or trying to make good with his daughter (Hayden Panettiere) and ex-wife (Kelly Lynch). The comedy is pure vanilla, and the good-guy lessons are learned with bland, family-fare efficiency, but the Allen-Bowen romance is gently engaging, and Allen's flair for slapstick doesn't go to waste. As a pacifist hero, this Joe is somebody to root for. --Jeff Shannon