Review -- Outside Providence

The love of being loved is a passion we all share. It's one of the few common threads in our society. Everyone on Earth has the same basic need to love and be loved. It's what drives us through life.

You wouldn't guess it from its advertisements, but Outside Providence is all about this basic need. The main character, Dunph (Shawn Hatosy), is searching for love, as are all the characters in the film in one way or another. Dunph, however, actually finds it.

Dunph is a boy from Nawtucket, Rhode Island, in the 1970s and is just fine with being that. But when a minor collision with a parked car sets his father (Alec Baldwin) on a ramage, the boy is shipped off to an all-male boarding school for his senior year of high school. Leaving his druggie friends behind, Dunph begins an emotional journey that will change his life forever, including meeting the girl of his dreams...

Hold on a second! I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I was: Isn't this movie co-written by the Farrelly brothers? Didn't they make There's Something About Mary? Where's the gross-out humor in Outside Providence? Well, shortly, to answer your queries: yes, yes, and there isn't any. A kid in a wheelchair gets a bit abused, but that's about it. Can't a writer or entertainer make a departure without everyone getting on their case? Sheesh...Jim Carrey was good in The Truman Show, wasn't he? Before The Matrix, the Wachowski brothers made Bound. Bound, of all things! I mean, come on! Chill out! Oh, and see Outside Providence while you're at it. It can be a bit cold in the movie theater. It might help you chill.

Grade - B

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