The only problem is that the President has set his lovelorn sight on beautiful town veterinarian Sally Mannis (Maura Tierney), the girlfriend of popular Mooseport hardware store owner Harold “Handy” Harrison (“Everybody Loves Raymond” star Ray Romano). He’s running for mayor, too, and at first the folksy handyman is more than happy to withdraw from the race, ceding the town’s interests would best be served under the guidance of the former Commander in Chief. But that changes when the Prez asks Sally out on a date, one which she accepts graciously. Suddenly jealous, Handy decides to stay in the race, setting up a David and Goliath battle with implications far beyond the small one-moose town.

Monroe can’t believe the mess he’s gotten himself into. The most popular President since Kennedy suddenly finds his lucrative speaking engagements drying up and mega-million dollar book offers dwindling as the race in Mooseport starts to heat up. Even worse, the President’s money-hungry ex-wife Charlotte (Christine Baranski) shows up in town smelling an opportunity to make her former beau look like a fool. With his advisors Grace (Marcia Gay Harden), Bullard (Fred Savage) and Bert (Rip Torn) clueless how to spin this unheard of public relations mess onto the side of the positive, Cole finds himself resorting to just the type of back-stabbing political shenanigans he derided his entire career.

This is the setup for the new comedy “Welcome to Mooseport,” a thin and obvious satire of politicos and the machinery that makes them tick from “Miss Congeniality” director Donald Petrie. It is an airy, lightly spun farce where the humor feels like it should be thornier than it actually is. Sure, there are moments of loopy lunacy that produce some unexpected guffaws (love the naked jogger), but they are unfortunately few and far between. In the end, Petrie and screenwriter Tom Schulman (“What About Bob?”) take the path of least resistance and choose to float their film solely upon the charms of their two stars.

Not that I blame them there. Hackman, one of the most widely respected and honored actors of our time, has a gift for comedy bordering on the effortless. He can make lines as inane as, “I’m running for mayor against the man who’s installing my toilets!” sing, infusing his character with just the right balance of pomp and pompousness. I can’t begin to explain the pleasures of watching the actor subtly boil over as he listens to the inane chatter of his advisers, his deadpan browbeating of young Savage a real joy.

Romano surprisingly matches him. For some reason, I’ve never really gotten into his popular Monday night sitcom, so it was a treat watching him blossom here. Wearing a pained, puppy-dog expression throughout the film, it is a true joy every time the comedienne breaks into his trademark grin. I loved Romano’s scenes with Tierney, the duo playing off one another with a delicate grace making their strained romance all the more believably. What more, a few of the actor’s quips caught me completely unaware, treading into the type of free-for-all verbal repartee I would never have associated with Romano.

Unfortunately, though, there is a tired been there/done that smugness to neither of these gifted funnymen can overcome. Michael J. Fox and “Doc Hollywood” tread this same ground back in the ‘90’s and did it with far more effervescent silliness, while Kevin Kline’s presidential comedy “Dave” played the Frank Capra game of political satire with both laughs and brains, the latter sorely lacking in this picture. This movie telegraphs its moves from the beginning, each of its laughs calculated as if an accounting firm had prepared them using a spreadsheet and an abacus.