The ads for this film led you to believe that this was another one of the Farrely Bros movies. It led you to believe that they were going to give you another movie like Dumb and Dumber and Something About Mary.
They lied.
Is that to say that this was a bad film? No, not really. But is it a good film like the other two? Not even close. The other two were hilarious, they were crude and they took humour to a different level. Outside Providence is tame, sort of funny, kind of sweet but mostly lacking that certain something that will make it fun to watch. I guess the best way to describe it is to say that it is just like most of the films that have come out in the last few years. It's just okay. And when the best way to describe a film is with the bland word, "okay", then you have problems.
Perhaps this film tried to take a page out of Dazed and Confused by setting it all in the 70's. Evidence to that can be attributed to many things, not which the least of it can be pinpointed to the drugs, the free sex, the school theme, and a few other issues. But this film doesn't contain the charm of Dazed and it certainly isn't as smart as Dazed. It is a cheap imitation and it was a deserved failure.
The film tells the story of a father, Mr. Dunphy, or Old Man Dunphy, that is tough on his kids but loves them very much. His oldest son, Timothy, just called Dunphy by his friends, is at that stage of his life where he into drugs, partying and insubordination. After he goes a step too far ( ramming a parked police car while smoking from a bong that would make Cheech and Chong jealous ) his father pulls a few strings and gets him into a private school. "It'll prepare you for not getting smoked by me," his father explains to him as he sends him off to the school. Upon reaching the school, he learns that it is more like a prison as there is no drinking, no drugs, no sex, no trips into town without permission, no locks on the doors, " F*** me, " Dunphy says, " and no swearing, the dean informs him. The deans name is probably the funniest part of the film, "Mr. Funderberk" Say it fast enough and you could get kicked out of school for uttering an obsenity.
The usual things happen at this prep school. The kids find a way to do drugs and party and then our little recluse meets the girl of his dreams. Her name is Jane and she is played by Amy Smart. I immediately recognized her from Varsity Blues and Road Trip. She was Vander Beek's "plain" girlfriend in Blues and she was Beth, the gorgeous sexpot that Breckin Meyer sleeps with in Road Trip. In Outside Providence, she is supposed to be the unobtainable vixen, the Rose DeWitt Bukater of this prep school. Of course Dunphy ends up dating her and she changes his life in many ways. He also becomes noble and at the end of the film he does something that shows how much he has grown.
The film is not bad, it's just that it is a nice film. It is kind of like Mumford, the film that came out last year that no doubt looked great on paper but when it transferred to film, it just lost some of it's edge. There isn't anything hysterically funny about it, there is nothing new to be said about teenagers, the school isn't different than any other school I've seen in the movies and the characters aren't anything more than cardboard cut-outs of other characters I've seen in a dozen other films. Alec Baldwin is good as the caring but insensitive dad but that is just a portion of the film. Maybe I've seen too many films and I am expecting to be shocked too much and too often, but this just felt old, stale and tired.
Outside Providence isn't bad, but it isn't that good. Not quite a ringing endorsement for a film.
6 out of 10. If you want to see a tame side of the Farrely's, then this is for you. If you want another Something About Mary, then stay away.
They lied.
Is that to say that this was a bad film? No, not really. But is it a good film like the other two? Not even close. The other two were hilarious, they were crude and they took humour to a different level. Outside Providence is tame, sort of funny, kind of sweet but mostly lacking that certain something that will make it fun to watch. I guess the best way to describe it is to say that it is just like most of the films that have come out in the last few years. It's just okay. And when the best way to describe a film is with the bland word, "okay", then you have problems.
Perhaps this film tried to take a page out of Dazed and Confused by setting it all in the 70's. Evidence to that can be attributed to many things, not which the least of it can be pinpointed to the drugs, the free sex, the school theme, and a few other issues. But this film doesn't contain the charm of Dazed and it certainly isn't as smart as Dazed. It is a cheap imitation and it was a deserved failure.
The film tells the story of a father, Mr. Dunphy, or Old Man Dunphy, that is tough on his kids but loves them very much. His oldest son, Timothy, just called Dunphy by his friends, is at that stage of his life where he into drugs, partying and insubordination. After he goes a step too far ( ramming a parked police car while smoking from a bong that would make Cheech and Chong jealous ) his father pulls a few strings and gets him into a private school. "It'll prepare you for not getting smoked by me," his father explains to him as he sends him off to the school. Upon reaching the school, he learns that it is more like a prison as there is no drinking, no drugs, no sex, no trips into town without permission, no locks on the doors, " F*** me, " Dunphy says, " and no swearing, the dean informs him. The deans name is probably the funniest part of the film, "Mr. Funderberk" Say it fast enough and you could get kicked out of school for uttering an obsenity.
The usual things happen at this prep school. The kids find a way to do drugs and party and then our little recluse meets the girl of his dreams. Her name is Jane and she is played by Amy Smart. I immediately recognized her from Varsity Blues and Road Trip. She was Vander Beek's "plain" girlfriend in Blues and she was Beth, the gorgeous sexpot that Breckin Meyer sleeps with in Road Trip. In Outside Providence, she is supposed to be the unobtainable vixen, the Rose DeWitt Bukater of this prep school. Of course Dunphy ends up dating her and she changes his life in many ways. He also becomes noble and at the end of the film he does something that shows how much he has grown.
The film is not bad, it's just that it is a nice film. It is kind of like Mumford, the film that came out last year that no doubt looked great on paper but when it transferred to film, it just lost some of it's edge. There isn't anything hysterically funny about it, there is nothing new to be said about teenagers, the school isn't different than any other school I've seen in the movies and the characters aren't anything more than cardboard cut-outs of other characters I've seen in a dozen other films. Alec Baldwin is good as the caring but insensitive dad but that is just a portion of the film. Maybe I've seen too many films and I am expecting to be shocked too much and too often, but this just felt old, stale and tired.
Outside Providence isn't bad, but it isn't that good. Not quite a ringing endorsement for a film.
6 out of 10. If you want to see a tame side of the Farrely's, then this is for you. If you want another Something About Mary, then stay away.