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Review: If they handed out awards for misleading ad campaigns, Miramax would land the top trophy. The film distributor is touting "Outside Providence" as a wacky comedy like "There's Something About Mary." Yeah, the screenplay is by the Farrelly brothers, the "Mary"-makers, and based on Peter Farrelly's novel. But the similarities end there. The movie features a three-legged dog, and somebody gets a dart stuck in his face. But the tone is bittersweet funny, not "ha-ha" raucous.

In other words, most of the people lured by the ad campaign will hate it, while those who actually might enjoy this minor-key movie won't go anywhere near the theater.

Unfolding in the early '70s, "Providence" almost feels like a relic from that era. It's a coming-of-age novel that captures the shaggy, druggy "what-next" feeling that followed in the uncertain years after the Summer of Love had come and gone.

Tim Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy) is a Pawtucket, R.I., teen whose free time is mainly spent sharing beers and a bong with his small-town friends. But when one of their dopey joy rides climaxes with a fender bender with a cop car, Tim's tough, blue-collar dad (Alec Baldwin) pulls some strings to get him sent to a private school.

What follows is an episodic, pleasantly shapeless look at some of Tim's experiences in his new preppy world. "Providence" touches on the economic gap that separates him from his well-heeled classmates, a factor that colors his blooming romance with an ambitious student named Jane (Amy Smart). "I like her," Tim tells his pals, giving her the best compliment he can muster: "You can treat her like a guy."

"Outside Providence" is full of such backhanded compliments and incomplete gestures. Central to it is the bumpy bond between Tim and his gruff dad, whose typical remark to his son is, "Cut that (expletive) mop on top of your head." The closest he comes to an intimate moment with his kid is to launch into a perfunctory birds-and-bees talk, though he chooses a Chinese dinner as his metaphor for the sex act. Baldwin, by the way, is terrific in this turn as a boorish palooka.

Directed by Michael Corrente ("Federal Hill"), the movie captures the quietly desperate tone of Tim's hometown, where his pals dream of getting to California because "they got weed, and cars that don't rust."

It also scores points for depicting Tim and Jane's romance as the sort of sweet, vague thing that can be based as much on friendship as passion.

Some elements of the movie don't quite gel. There's an arbitrary subplot about Baldwin discovering that one of his poker cronies is gay, an issue that erupts and simply fades away. And the back story of what happened to Tim's mom doesn't hold the dramatic oomph it's obviously intended to.

But if you're looking for a movie that's about people, not just plot and effects, "Outside Providence" is a sweet surprise. Just ignore the Miramax marketers.

— Steve Murray, Cox News Service

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