Outside Providence (1999)

After one too many run ins with the law, a punk teenager from a working class background is sent to prep school by his frustrated dad, and learns a thing or two.

Director:

Michael Corrente

Writers:

Peter Farrelly (screenplay), Michael Corrente (screenplay)

Stars:

Shawn Hatosy, Amy Smart, Alec Baldwin

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shawn Hatosy	...	Tim Dunphy
Tommy Bone	...	Jackie Dunphy
Samantha Lavigne	...	'Clops'
Jonathan Brandis	...	Mousy
Adam LaVorgna	...	Tommy the Wire (as Adam Lavorgna)
Jesse Leach	...	Decenz
Jon Abrahams	...	Drugs Delaney
Alec Baldwin	...	Old Man Dunphy
Richard Jenkins	...	Barney
Mike Cerrone	...	Caveech
George Wendt	...	Joey
Robert Turano	...	Fran
Kristen Shorten	...	Bunny Cote
Timothy Crowe	...	Mr. Funderburk (as Tim Crowe)
Meghan Duffy	...	Nanny Heidi

Storyline

A boy from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, caught up in the drug scene of the mid-70s, gets in trouble one too many times with the law. To stave off a jail term, his father arranges for him to be placed into a prep school in Cornwall, Connecticut. The terms: Graduate, or else.

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Plot Keywords:

pot | cannabis | quaaludes | pesticide | insecticide | 

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Taglines:

There once was a boy from Pawtucket...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive teen drug use and strong language including sexual references

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anexigiti pronoia

Filming Locations:

Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,370,662, 5 September 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$7,292,175, 10 October 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Eagle Beach

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Farrelly Brothers disowned the film after Harvey Weinstein insisted on numerous changes from the source material and re-cut the film in order to make it closer to their There's Something About Mary (1998) rather than the coming-of-age tale the original story was. The final film was a flop with critics and audiences and has been more or less forgotten.

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Goofs

In the scene where they are leaving for boarding school, the Bonanza bus has an new Rhode Island license plate (white and blue with the sail/wave on it). When the bus arrives, the license plate is the old "The Ocean State" style.

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Quotes

Timothy Dunphy: My brother's in a wheel chair because of a freak accident as a kid. One day we were playing touch football and he fell off the roof.

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Alternate Versions

The video version features an alternate ending which was cut from the final print. The ending, which takes place after the graduation conmencement, features Jane Weston and Jackie Dunphy instead of Mr. Dunphy and Jackie meeting Tim outside the auditorum where she thanks him for helping her get into Brown University. They kiss which is interupted by Mr. Funderberk who yells at them for making a public scene and Tim responds by punching Mr. Funderberk in the face, to the delight of his friends standing nearby. Tim and Jane stroll off, pushing Jackie in his wheelchair, as Tim contemplates his future.

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Connections

Referenced in Video Buck: Las traducciones más mierdosas vol. 5 (2019)

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Soundtracks

The First Noel
Traditional
Arranged by Billy Martin
Performed by Billy Martin
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari/Master Source

User Reviews

I Was Expecting A Teen Comedy But This Is Much More Than That

It turned out that there was a lot more to this movie than I was anticipating when I decided to watch it. I watched it largely on the basis of Alec Baldwin, who's a pretty good actor. But at the same time I knew that the basic plot revolved around a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak, who gets sent to a snooty prep school after getting in some trouble at home. I figured this would turn out to be a pretty typical teen-style comedy, with the "bad kid" heading off to the "good school" and turning it upside down, with the movie becoming little more than sex and drugs. It's true that there's a lot of weed in this, but much to my surprise there's no sex and not even a hint of nudity. It actually turns out to be a fairly complex study of relationships and commitment and the importance of taking responsibility for your actions.

Shawn Hatosy was Tim Dunphy - the kid who gets sent off to this school. We find out early on that he has a troubled home life, loyally devoted to his wheelchair bound little brother Jackie (Tommy Bone) but with a distant relationship with his father, who's played by Baldwin, and who seems to have time to do little else but play poker with his buddies. (As an aside, dad's "buddies" are played by a pretty decent cast of actors, including George Wendt and Richard Jenkins.) For much of the movie we know nothing about Tim's mother, except that she isn't there. When her absence finally gets explained, it resolves some of the issues about what's going on between Tim and his dad, and perhaps explains his dad's emotional emptiness.

The prep school part of the story is also more interesting than expected at first glance. There's some "teen cliché" stuff going on, but really less than I expected. Yes, as I noted, there's a lot of weed smoked over the course of an hour and a half, and there's the requisite "evil" adult character, in this case represented by My. Funderburk, played by Timothy Crowe, but even Funderburke (while a bit ridiculous at times) is less over the top than most similar characters in teen movies. As I said, there's neither sex nor nudity in this, but there is a surprisingly well portrayed romance between Tim and Jane (played by Amy Smart) - a girl from the right side of the tracks. It's one of those unlikely and somewhat unbelievable romances that nevertheless worked in this case, and I thought that Hatosy and Smart were good together. Ultimately, of course, what hijinks there were at the school leads to problems, and Tim has to decide whether to take responsibility for his actions or not, and the revelation of why Tim's mother is absent even leads ultimately to a sort of warming in the relationship between Tim and his dad.

This actually turns out to be a much more interesting movie than one might anticipate. In fact, although it's set in a prep school and is at times humorous, I wouldn't really call this a teen comedy at all. It's got too much going on for that; it raises too many issues to be dismissed as just that. It's surprisingly well done. (7/10)