Grade: C

Verdict: Unless you're a real Romano fan, take the bypass.

The tepid comedy-romance "Welcome to Mooseport" exists for one reason.

To see if Ray Romano is movie-star material.

For fans of his hugely successful sitcom, the answer is probably self-evident, since he's playing pretty much the same lovable, low-key guy he does on "Everybody Loves Raymond." However, for those who have no special attachment to the TV program but have enjoyed Romano on morning talk shows and award shows, the answer is more problematic.

Consider Michael J. Fox, also a star of a hit TV series who basically transferred his video persona to movies (the "Back to the Future" trilogy and "Doc Hollywood," among others). There was something in Fox the camera loved, something that somehow made him movie-size. It's hard to say the same thing about Romano. He, too, is playing a variation on his TV self, but that extra spark, that thing that makes you see him in a new silver-screenish light, is missing.

The titular Mooseport is a picturesque Maine hamlet by the sea where popular two-term President Monroe "Eagle" Cole (Gene Hackman), has decided to retire. That means his soon-to-be ex-wife (Christine Baranski) can't get her greedy hands on their vacation home, which he plans to establish as his primary residence.

Through one of those necessary-but-especially-irritating plot complications, Cole ends up running for mayor of Mooseport against Handy Harrison (Romano), the beloved owner of the local hardware store. "I'm running against the man who fixed my toilet?" Cole explodes, in one of the movie's many flat-lining laugh lines.

More, um, hilarity is provided by the president's small flotilla of aides and Secret Service men, led by personal assistant Marcia Gay Harden (tight smile, tighter skirts, still good) and campaign manager Rip Torn. Much is made of Cole's competitive streak. His library has to be 20,000 square feet larger than Clinton's, his speaking fee $20,000 more than Clinton's.

Meanwhile, Handy is just a good-natured average Joe whose biggest fault is not popping the question to the local vet ("ERŐs" Maura Tierney, dismal) after dating her for six years. But Handy has a secret weapon he doesn't know about. As one of Cole's advisors soberly points out, Handy is something the ex-pres has "never faced before - an honest man."

Mooseport itself is "Northern Exposure's" Cicely, Alaska, moved south and east - full of lovable rural eccentrics like the elderly naked jogger or the potty-mouthed little old lady who talks about "booty poodles." It's even got a town moose wandering the streets.

Why so much top-flight talent signed on for this genial mediocrity is hard to decipher, unless they wanted to give their pal Romano an extra push. Maybe everybody really does love Raymond.