# Outside Providence (1999)

### reviewed by
Tim Chandler

                               Outside Providence

    Rating: 2.5 out of 4

    The Info

Directed by: Michael Corrente Written by: Peter and Bobby Farrelly & Michael Corrente Starring: Shawn Hatosy, Alec Baldwin, Amy Smart, George Wendt Produced by: Michael Corrente, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Randy Finch

    The Basic Plot

A slacker from Pawtucket has to cope with being sent to a prep school by his father.

    The Review

Outside Providence is a cross between Detroit Rock City and countless fish-out-of-water films such as Crocodile Dundee. Peter Farrelly, writer of There's Something About Mary and Dumb & Dumber, goes for an intelligent, non-physical style of comedy here, but mars it with misplaced, unneeded bits of drama. Many scenes make you laugh out loud, occasionally even applaud, and with a better script and tighter direction from Michael Corrente, Outside Providence could have been a success.

The story follows Tim Dunphy (Hatosy), "Dildo" to his blue-collar father (Baldwin), as he is sent off to prep school in 1974. His slacker, drugged-out friends (including one hilarious buddy named Drugs) are sorry to see him go, but their lives really don't change much with his departure. Once arrived at his new home, Tim manages to find a group of students who enjoy the same pastimes as he does (drinking, smoking, doing drugs etc.) and meets a love interest, Jane (Weston). He has many misadventures, often involving getting in trouble with the dorm master. Unfortunately, the Farrellys and director Corrente chose to add some drama to their film, giving Tim a dead mother with a tragic past, a girlfriend whose aspirations of going to Brown University become uncertain, and a crippled younger brother.

When the Farrellys go for laughs, they consistently hit their target. They have perfectly caught the diction, attitude and humour found in potheads from a small town. Tim and his friends spend every night getting high and drunk, often with surprising results. Some of the humour is typical of the gross-out humour permeating 1999 so far (a student who has never done drugs before throws up on a classmate), but the majority is intelligent and witty, concentrating on the lack of schooling and vocabulary of the young men (one student declines a joint, saying "no, I want to remember this moment, I want to saviour it.") The awkwardness of youth is expertly explored as well, with freshmen getting "froshed" (vicious humiliating pranks played on them) and young men mooning over the picture of their secret love.

Director Michael Corrente needs to find his own vision for his future endeavours. Outside Providence suffers from a bad case of deja-vu. Whether it is the montage of romantic moments between Tim and Jane that plays during a low period in their relationship, or Tim's becoming a good student, numerous scenes are copies of past films. Even the soundtrack of tunes that can be found in every film about the 70s is familiar, with several songs having already appeared on a soundtrack in 1999 already. Alec Baldwin and his poker buddies are funny but unneeded. Baldwin is particularly good at playing the ignorant blue-collar dad, but unconvincing in his one dramatic scene. George Wendt gives the film another familiar face, and a plot twist that has nothing to do with the film. Shawn Hatosy and Amy Smart ably carry the film's major roles, with Hatosy in particular doing a better job of being an unschooled 70s stoner than any cast member from Detroit Rock City.

Outside Providence will make you laugh quite a bit. It is unoriginal and unnecessarily dramatic as well, but if you don't care about such things, you will likely love this film. Everyone else will consider this film an amusing distraction, but that's all.

email Tim Chandler at timbit@canada.com or check out The Bottom Line at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Heights/8000/index.html

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