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Outside Providence | 1999 | R | - 4.4.10

In this Farrelly Brothers' coming-of-age drama/comedy taking place in 1974, a boy from working-class Pawtucket, R.I. is sent to a preppy boarding school to finish his senior year. With Alec Baldwin, Shawn Hatosy, Amy Smart, Jon Abrahams, Jonathan Brandis, Gabriel Mann, Seth William Meier, Kyle Pepi, Ryan Pepi, Scott Rabideau, David Vaillancourt and George Wendt. [1:45]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - Lots of sexual innuendo (including references to fellatio, homosexuality, masturbation) and some kisses, sometimes passionate; in one scene, a boy lies on top of a girl and kisses her passionately (they're both clothed, but part of her midriff is visible). We hear a boy masturbating and groaning in the dark, then see his upper torso and boys around him laughing when a light is turned on. A boy has a towel wrapped around his waist and a girl wears a bikini; we also briefly see the bare back of a girl who's either topless or wearing a tiny bikini top (she's seen from the back and at quite a distance, as she's embracing and kissing a boy).

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Mostly played for laughs: A boy gets a dart stuck in his forehead (we see a close-up shot of the dart piercing his skin, but no blood is visible). A man burns his hand when he touches a doorknob that a boy heated with a lighter. A boy puts another in a headlock and threatens to throw him off the roof they're standing on. Men yell and throw playing cards at a man when he admits he's a homosexual. A boy accidentally hits himself on the head with a small ball, a boy hits another in the head with a lacrosse ball, a boy is tossed into a lake by several others, a boy slaps another and a man slaps a boy. A boy drives his car into the back of another (no one is injured). A van pulls a boy in a wheelchair behind it; when the van stops suddenly, we hear the boy hit the back of it with a loud thud (he's not injured). We briefly see a boy in a wheelchair rolling around in the back of a truck bed. A woman and two boys playfully shoot some ornaments off a Christmas tree (the scene isn't violent or mean-spirited). We learn a woman shot and killed herself several years earlier and that a boy died in a car accident. A boy snorts a strand of spaghetti up his nostril so part of it hangs out of his nostril and part hangs out of his mouth; he pulls the strand back and forth several times, then snorts the entire piece up his nostril and eats it. A boy vomits on another's arm.

LANGUAGE 10 - About 55 F-words, an obscene finger gesture, lots of anatomical and scatological references, several mild obscenities, several insults, lots of name calling (most in reference to homosexuality) and a few ethnic slurs.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Boarding school, dysfunctional families, teen drinking and drug use, physically-challenged people, mental illness, death, loss of a parent, falling in love, betrayal.

MESSAGE - You can change your "destined" way of life; take responsibility for your actions.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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