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Outside ProvidenceRating:
Release Date: 04 February, 2003 Retail Price: $14.99 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
Outside Providence Reviews
Deja vue
The best part of this movie for me was the dialog between Dumph (Shaun Hatosy) and his dad (Alec Baldwin) it reminds me of my relationship with my dad during my teenage days. I found Baldwins performance to be among his best. This was my first Hatosy film he was very good. The rest of the cast was superior and so was their performance. You even get to see Jonathan Brandis for about five minutes as Mousey a drugged out teen he pulled it off as alwayse, I wish he had been in it more. There is a lot of drug related humor that I normaly do not like but this was done well and it fit in. This movie is funny with morals and messages but they are not over bearing. If you grew up in the seventys you will enjoy this movie. The NewEngland scenary is a nice touch so is the sound trac. I would not reccomend this for younger kids due to some sexual refrences but other than that it is fine for all.
Underneath the movie's pot jokes lies a sweet thoughtfulness
In 1974, pot-smoking teenager Tim Dunphy (Dunph, to his friends) is sent to a superior prep school after getting in trouble with the law for a reefer-induced mishap. There, he tangles with strict administrators, suffers the classrooms of exacting instructors, and hangs out with fellow pothead students. He also encounters Jane Weston, hands down the coolest chick in school and from an upper class family. Jane is beautiful but studious; she's trying to get accepted to Brown University. Dunph is just trying to get by without accruing any more punishment for violation of school policies. Regarding Jane, his friend advises Dunph: "Forget it." Yet, somehow, Dunph and Jane get together. It's not a match made in heaven, but hey, Dunph will take it...
Supposedly based on Peter Farrelly's school experiences at Kent, Outside Providence is a very good coming-of-age movie. It was touted as a comedy but, really, while it has its share of laugh-out-loud funnies, its dramatic undercurrent is the engine that drives it home beautifully. It reminds me of those 1980s John Hughes dramedies (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful). Yes, this movie is liberally dosed with pot jokes, but a sense of realness and pathos felt throughout provides a nice counterbalance. From a raucous Farrelly Brothers-type comedy to an ultimately thoughtful film. Very nice.
The only other time I've seen Shawn Hatosy was in the cool horror The Faculty; to be honest, in that film, he didn't make much of an impression on me. But, here, he takes center stage and does a real good job in portraying easy-going, pot-smoking Dunph, who initially is aimless and just drifting along but then undergoes life lessons and steps up to responsibility. Amy Smart's Jane is a major impetus in Dunph's maturation process. Amy plays her character as a young woman who's smart and hardworking - but not afraid to let her hair down - and, most importantly, she is genuine; those qualities, more often than not, are enough to positively influence a guy. The supporting cast, from Pawtucket, Rhode Island to Cornwall, Connecticut, does a credible job evoking the '70s, ably backed by the great soundtrack. Alec Baldwin is remarkably good in playing Dunph's gruff, hard-bitten father, with surprising hidden depths. On the other hand, Timothy Crowe as Mr. Funderberk seems to be channeling Jeffrey Jones's Principal Ed Rooney (Ferris Bueller's Day Off).
I knew this movie was gonna make me smile and laugh; I was surprised when it made me feel. Outside Providence is very recommended.
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