SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE

"OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE"
(1999) (Shawn Hatosy, Alec Baldwin) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Extreme	Mild	Heavy	Minor	Minor

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	None	Minor	*Minor	Extreme

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Mild

QUICK TAKE:: Comedy/Drama: Sent off to finish his high school education at a private academy, a seventeen- year-old deadbeat shakes up the establishment but also learns a thing or two about growing up.

PLOT:

In 1974 Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Tim Dunphy (SHAWN HATOSY) is a deadbeat seventeen- year-old who likes to hang out with his friends, including "Drugs" Delaney (JON ABRAHAMS) and Mousy (JONATHAN BRANDIS), getting high and thinking about sex. That's when he's not helping his wheelchair bound younger brother, Jackie (TOMMY BONE), deliver papers or trying to avoid his stern and rough around the edges father (ALEC BALDWIN) who not-so- affectionately calls him "Dildo."

When Tim rear-ends a parked police car while high on pot, old man Dunphy, who spends his time either playing poker with his buddies, including Joey (GEORGE WENDT), or eating ice cream from the carton while watching TV, sends Tim off to a prep school -- Cornwall Academy for Boys -- to prevent his son from serving any time for his crime.

Although he initially sticks out like a sore thumb, with the help of his new roommate Irving "Jizz" Waltham (JACK FERVER), blue-blooded student Jack Wheeler (GABRIEL MANN) and Billy Fu (ALEX TOMA), whose father's pending multimillion-dollar donation allows him to get away with anything, Tim soon begins to fit in. That's actually more so with the school's other troublemakers, much to the chagrin of Mr. Funderberk (TIMOTHY CROWE), the dorm resident director.

Things begin to look up for Tim when he spots and then falls for Jane Weston (AMY SMART), a pretty blond who's looking forward to attending Brown college. While she initially rebukes his advances, the two soon become an item. As the school year unfolds, Tim finds that he must balance that relationship while coping with his dad and the daily tribulations of attending a private and very strict boy's academy, all while learning a thing or two about growing up.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: When they hear that it's written by the Farrelly brothers (responsible for "There's Something About Mary"), they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For pervasive teen drug use and strong language including sexual references.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: SHAWN HATOSY plays a deadbeat 17-year-old who smokes pot and uses profanity. Sent off to a prep school, he sets out to disobey the school's rules and clashes with the dorm's resident director. When he meets the girl of his dreams, however, he eventually starts to study and later attempts to remedy his unintentional ruining of her future academic career.
JON ABRAHAMS plays his buddy who's nicknamed "Drugs" because that's what he spends most his time doing.
TOMMY BONE plays his younger brother who's confined to a wheelchair, but keeps his paper route and acts retarded in one scene so that he and Tim can gain free admittance to a football game.
ALEC BALDWIN plays their beer drinking, poker playing and overall rough around the edges father who's raised them on his own. His affection for them is filtered through his need to belittle them -- particularly Tim -- and he also uses a great deal of profanity.
JACK FERVER plays Tim's prep school roommate, a nerdy student who gets stoned at a party.
AMY SMART plays Tim's girlfriend, a smart and academically determined young woman who occasionally smokes pot with Tim and fools around with him a bit.
TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.; JON ABRAHAMS plays his buddy who's nicknamed "Drugs" because that's what he spends most his time doing.
TOMMY BONE plays his younger brother who's confined to a wheelchair, but keeps his paper route and acts retarded in one scene so that he and Tim can gain free admittance to a football game.
ALEC BALDWIN plays their beer drinking, poker playing and overall rough around the edges father who's raised them on his own. His affection for them is filtered through his need to belittle them -- particularly Tim -- and he also uses a great deal of profanity.
JACK FERVER plays Tim's prep school roommate, a nerdy student who gets stoned at a party.
AMY SMART plays Tim's girlfriend, a smart and academically determined young woman who occasionally smokes pot with Tim and fools around with him a bit.
TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.; TOMMY BONE plays his younger brother who's confined to a wheelchair, but keeps his paper route and acts retarded in one scene so that he and Tim can gain free admittance to a football game.
ALEC BALDWIN plays their beer drinking, poker playing and overall rough around the edges father who's raised them on his own. His affection for them is filtered through his need to belittle them -- particularly Tim -- and he also uses a great deal of profanity.
JACK FERVER plays Tim's prep school roommate, a nerdy student who gets stoned at a party.
AMY SMART plays Tim's girlfriend, a smart and academically determined young woman who occasionally smokes pot with Tim and fools around with him a bit.
TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.; ALEC BALDWIN plays their beer drinking, poker playing and overall rough around the edges father who's raised them on his own. His affection for them is filtered through his need to belittle them -- particularly Tim -- and he also uses a great deal of profanity.
JACK FERVER plays Tim's prep school roommate, a nerdy student who gets stoned at a party.
AMY SMART plays Tim's girlfriend, a smart and academically determined young woman who occasionally smokes pot with Tim and fools around with him a bit.
TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.; JACK FERVER plays Tim's prep school roommate, a nerdy student who gets stoned at a party.
AMY SMART plays Tim's girlfriend, a smart and academically determined young woman who occasionally smokes pot with Tim and fools around with him a bit.
TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.; AMY SMART plays Tim's girlfriend, a smart and academically determined young woman who occasionally smokes pot with Tim and fools around with him a bit.
TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.; TIMOTHY CROWE plays the dorm resident director who has several clashes with Tim and the other students.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated comedy/drama. Profanity is extreme with nearly 50 "f" words being used along with plenty of other profanities and colorful phrases. Drug and alcohol use also rates as an extreme with teens smoking pot and drinking throughout the production.

Bad attitudes rate as heavy due to a father's treatment of his sons, his and his buddies' politically incorrect views, students disobeying a school's rules and the film's use of handicapped people and other events/subjects as humorous fodder.

Along with the drug use, other activities may prove to be enticing to imitate, while some sexually related dialogue, discussions and suggested masturbation give the "Sex/Nudity" category a heavy rating.

Beyond all of that, some smoking, slapstick style violence and a few tense family scenes, the rest of the film is relatively void of major objectionable content. As always, however, should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, we suggest that you take a closer look at the detailed listings.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Tim and his buddies drink beer and smoke a joint.
Old man Dunphy and his buddies drink beer while playing poker in several scenes.
Tim asks Jackie to get his bong for him, but when it falls out in front of their dad (who doesn't know what it is), Tim acts like it's a musical instrument.
People have drinks in a bar.
Tim and his buddies light a bong in their car that soon fills with pot smoke.
One of Tim's friends rolls his own joint, and both he and Tim smoke it while Tim also drinks liquor from the bottle.
Among the things against the rules at Cornwall, Mr. Funderberk mentions "drugs."
Wheeler burns some pot in an old, outdoor burner and both he and Tim ingest the smoke that we see billowing out from the tree under which they're hiding.
We see Drugs taking some hits from a bong.
As Tim sits in the back seat with Jane (with her parents in the front), he shows her a bottle of rum to mix with the soft drinks he just bought.
Billy shows up in a Home Ec. class and tells Tim that he's going to make some brownies (with the pot he's got).
When Tim asks Jane what people do around there (Cornwall), she states that they go into the woods to get high. We then see them in the woods smoking pot where she comments on it being "good weed." Tim then states (joking or not) that Drugs soaks pot in insecticide to get an even better buzz.
People have drinks in a bar.
Tim and others smoke a joint.
Tim gives Jane "double roach clips" as a gift.
We see Drugs doing another bong hit.
Tim rolls a joint and when Jane calls him on that, he states that he always does better at studying when he's "stoned."
At a party, people drink beer while another person rolls a joint. We then see Drugs and Irv smoking a joint. Drugs then tells Irv to take some pills and when Irv asks what they are, Drugs says that they're "Vitamin Q" (Quaaludes). Later, Irv appears quite high from the drugs.
Old man Dunphy has a martini and then orders two more for himself and Tim. When he asks Tim if it's his first martini, his son replies "Yeah, today." Dunph then orders another for himself and a beer for Tim.
Tim smokes another joint, and Jane then joins him doing the same.
Some liquor is poured on a person's grave.
Wheeler smokes a joint and offers it to Tim who throws it away.
Jane visits Tim and shows the present she brought him (a joint). After he makes a comment about not smoking it, he finally does.

BLOOD/GORE: Irv walks in (stoned) and has a dart stuck in his forehead.
We see Irv vomit on Tim's sleeve.
We see a student who has a long noodle run through his nose and back out his mouth. He then runs it back and forth and then sucks it back in both orifices.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Old man Dunphy has an odd way of treating his kids, repeatedly calling Tim "Dildo" and making his son hitchhike to and from school. He and his poker buddies also have other instances of both, commenting on "Jew bastards," one says that guys with beards are "queers," and the others then get mad when it's revealed that one of them is gay.
A comical statement is made explaining how Jackie ended up in a wheelchair (playing touch football on the roof -- not seen). Later, Jackie, who's in the wheelchair only because his legs don't work, acts like he's severely retarded so that he and his brother can get into a ball game for free. We then see a scene played for laughs where Jackie's riding in his wheelchair in the back of a pickup bed where he slams into the front when the truck stops. Later, as Drugs pulls Jackie along and behind his van to deliver newspapers, Drugs suddenly stops and Jackie and his wheelchair run into the back of the van.
After a student forgets or is too nervous to sing the lyrics to the school fight song, one of the instructors/administrators has other students throw him into a lake as "motivation."
A lacrosse player purposefully hits Irv on the head with the ball.
Tim, Wheeler and others don't respect Funderberk's authority and constantly set out to break his rules. In turn, he sets out to crack down on them. At one point, Tim finally tells Funderberk, "Shut the f*ck up."
We see a flashback to the moment when Irv got the nickname Jizz. As he sits with other students in a room, one student says that when they blow out the candle, everyone will drop their pants and "jack off" (as some sort of initiation). The light then goes out, we hear related sounds of male masturbation and when the lights come on, all of the other students are laughing at Irv (we don't see anything) and repeatedly chanting "Jizz."
A student turns in other students in exchange for getting accepted into a good college.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Mad at a student for ratting on them, Tim holds this guy at the edge of a roof as if he's going to push/drop him off the side.

GUNS/WEAPONS: BB Gun: Seen in a Christmas flashback where Tim's mom shows the boys how to use it by shooting a Christmas ornament. After she shoots several more, Tim's dad then does the same.
We hear that a character (in the past) committed suicide by shooting themselves.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Shut the f*ck up," "Who gives a f*ck?" "F*ckin' A," "Piece of shit," "Dipsh*t," "Porking" and "Bang" (for sex) "Sh*thole," "Sh*tfaced," "Dildo," "This blows," "Retard," "Freakin'," "Bastards," "Hard on," "Queers," "Ass bag," "Moron," "Fags," "Homo," "Sucks," "Quit your bitching," "If you blow me," "Pain in the ass," "Jack off," "Chick," "Sucks the big one," "Turd," "C*cked," "Stink fingered" (manually stimulated a female using one's fingers), "Flogged the dolphin" (male masturbation) "Knuckleheads," "Bust your balls," "You wouldn't know a classy broad if she took a dump on your head," "Grab ass," "Stoned," "Pud," "Screw" (nonsexual), "Nuts" (crazy), "Idiots" and "Ball buster."
All of the drug use may inspire kids to want to do drugs, and Tim even mentions at one time that Drugs soaks pot in insecticide before smoking it to get an even better high. While he may be joking about that, some kids may also want to try that.
Tim drives along pulling Jackie in his wheelchair behind him so that his brother can deliver newspapers.
After a student forgets or is too nervous to sing the lyrics to the school fight song, one of the instructors/administrators has other students throw him into a lake as "motivation."
A person throws a lit firecracker from a moving car.
Jackie, who's in a wheelchair only because his legs don't work, acts like he's severely retarded so that he and his brother can get into a ball game for free.
Tim and Jane hitchhike to get from one place to another.
Tim takes a cigarette lighter and runs the flame on Funderberk's office doorknob so that he'll burn his hand on it and think there's a fire inside (especially after Tim yells "Fire!" so that he hears it).
We see a flashback to the moment when Irv got the nickname Jizz. As he sits with other students in a room, one student says that when they blow out the candle, everyone will drop their pants and "jack off" (as some sort of initiation). The light then goes out, we hear related sounds of male masturbation and when the lights come on, all of the other students are laughing at Irv (we don't see anything) and repeatedly chanting "Jizz."
In a Christmas flashback Tim's mom shows the boys how to use a BB gun by shooting a Christmas ornament. After she shoots several more, Tim's dad then does the same.
Tim gives "the finger" to a car that stops as if to give him and Jane a ride, but then pulls away.
Irv pours ice water on another student's head.
We see a student who has a long noodle run through his nose and back out his mouth. He then runs it back and forth and then sucks it back in both orifices.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): One scene has a bit of suspenseful music in it.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): While there are plenty of 70s era songs on the soundtrack, all we heard was 1 use of "My Lord" in one of them (although there's always the possibility of more).

PROFANITY: At least 49 "f" words (1 used sexually as are the words "porking" and "bang"), 33 "s" words, 3 slang terms for female genitals ("p*ssy" and "beaver"), 2 slang terms using male genitals ("c*cks*cker" and "c*cked"), 11 asses (3 used with "hole"), 4 hells, and 2 uses each of "G-damn," "For Christ's sakes" and "Jesus" and 1 use each of "My God," "God," "For God's sakes," "Jesus Christ," "Oh good Christ" and "Oh God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: As Tim and his buddies talk about girls, one of them mentions "fingering" a girl and that the finger smelled of that activity. Later, as someone reads Drugs' letter to Tim aloud, we hear that Drugs "stink fingered" a local girl.
As Tim and his buddies watch some guys on the dance floor with attractive young women, one of them comments that such guys are "fags." One of the guys then replies that he'd be one to "get that kind of p*ssy."
When Drugs asks if a certain girl dates, one of his friend replies that she "f*cks " everyone in town.
Among the things against the rules at Cornwall, Mr. Funderberk mentions "sex."
A comment is made about someone "getting more beaver than the Hoover Dam."
We see a flashback to the moment when Irv got the nickname Jizz. As he sits with other students in a room, one student says that when they blow out the candle, everyone will drop their pants and "jack off" (as some sort of initiation). The light then goes out, we hear related sounds of male masturbation and when the lights come on, all of the other students are laughing at Irv (we don't see anything) and repeatedly chanting "Jizz." Back in the present, Tim says who cares that he "flogged the dolphin" and then tells Irv a stat that ninety-nine percent of guys masturbate (adding that only four percent of girls do). When Irv then asks if that means that Tim does, he states that he personally doesn't.
Tim's hometown buddies ask if he "got any" while away at school and whether he "porked" Jane. They then ask about her body.
Old man Dunphy's poker buddies joke about gays "taking it in the jaw" and it's then revealed that one of them is gay. Later, when someone curses about a "c*cks*cker," this gay person then jokes about the reference being made about him.
We briefly see Tim and Jane making out and later see the same as he makes out while lying (clothed) on top of her.
We see Jane in a bikini and later, and from a distance, see her making out with Tim in the waves where she's topless (and we see part of the side of her breasts from a distance).
Tim's dad has his brief sex talk with his son about Jane. He asks, "Are you putting the wood to her?" He then adds that it's at much his responsibility as it is hers and "don't go getting your little friend there in trouble." He follows that with "Making sex is like Chinese dinner. It ain't over 'till you both get your cookies."

SMOKING: Joey smokes a few times as do Old Man Dunphy's other poker buddies, while Tim smokes once and some of his friends smoke as well. In addition, a miscellaneous man smokes a cigar while we also see a cigarette hanging from a stuffed and mounted moose's head.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Tim comments that it's hard not to think about his mom during Christmas (and we then see some happy flashback scenes of the family), but it's later revealed that she shot herself. In addition, Tim reveals that he knew his parents were separated when she committed suicide.
Some tension exists between Tim and his dad, but it's not too bad.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The drug use among teens.
The way and reason(s) Tim's father treats him the way he does.
We hear that a character (in the past) committed suicide by shooting themselves.

VIOLENCE: We hear the accidental sound of breaking glass after Jackie throws a newspaper on his delivery route.
One of the guys whacks Drugs on the face.
With pot smoking filling the car, Tim drives into the back of a parked police car.
Old man Dunphy backhands Tim for wrecking the car.
A lacrosse player purposefully hits Irv on the head with the ball.
We see a scene played for laughs where Jackie's riding in his wheelchair in the back of a pickup bed where he slams into the front when the truck stops. Later, as Drugs pulls Jackie along and behind his van to deliver newspapers, Drugs suddenly stops and Jackie and his wheelchair run into the back of the van.
In a Christmas flashback Tim's mom shows the boys how to use a BB gun by shooting a Christmas ornament. After she shoots several more, Tim's dad then does the same.
We hear that a character (in the past) committed suicide by shooting themselves.
Irv stands in front of a dartboard claiming it's his turn to play (he's stoned from drugs) and won't move out of the way. The player then decides to take aim anyway and moments later we see Irv with a dart sticking out from his forehead.
Mad at a student for ratting on them, Tim holds this guy at the edge of a roof as if he's going to push/drop him off the side.

Reviewed August 19, 1999 / Posted September 1, 1999

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