Outside Providence

Despite all of the television and newspaper ads, "Outside Providence" isn't a Farrelly brothers movie.

The Farrellys, most famous for "There's Something About Mary" and "Dumb & Dumber," may have written the screenplay for this '70s period comedy (based on a 10-year-old novel by Peter Farrelly). But they didn't actually direct the film, which is surprisingly gentle, and which is certainly different from their normally frantically paced style.

Mind you, the film still isn't "Farrelly Lite"; such expected Farrelly-isms as crude sex gags crop up throughout, leaving the film a bit disjointed.

However, while "Outside Providence" certainly isn't great filmmaking, and in no way can it be called a life-changing experience, it does have its share of enjoyable moments, both comedically and dramatically.

Shawn Hatosy ("The Faculty") stars as Tim Dunphy, an underachieving New England high school student whose antics land him in a lot of trouble. While partying with his buddies, Tim crashes his car into a parked police cruiser.

So as part of a plea-bargain arrangement, Tim's blue-collar father (Alec Baldwin) ships him off to an exclusive Rhode Island prep school, hoping the boy will be able to graduate, if not necessarily straighten up and fly right.

But Tim almost immediately falls in with the wrong crowd, much to the horror of his disciplinarian dorm adviser (Tim Crowe) and new girlfriend (Amy Smart), a straight-A student from a nearby girl's school who has big plans for the future

It's a decent setup for a film, but it seems to take forever to get there. Consequently, the payoff to the main story thread seems rushed and a handful of other subplots are never fully explored or resolved.

Also, director Michael Corrente ("American Buffalo") can't quite set a consistent tone. At times the dramatic story elements veer toward maudlin sentimentality, while at other times the film threatens to become a full-fledged comedy.

Fortunately, he's working with a good cast. Hatosy nicely avoids becoming just another brooding teen and makes Tim a sympathetic character. As his much-smarter girlfriend, Smart is much more appealing here than she was in "Varsity Blues."

And it's nice to see Alec Baldwin — who gets the majority of the film's best lines — playing a character that's closer to his actual age for a change.

(The film also has a great period soundtrack, including vintage songs from Badfinger, the Who, Steppenwolf and Argent, which definitely doesn't hurt.)

"Outside Providence" is rated R for profanity, simulated drug use (marijuana), crude sexual humor, as well as use of sexual slang terms, a brief scuffle, a simulated sex act and use of racial epithets.