Outside Providence

Written (but not directed) by the Farrelly brothers (of There's Something About Mary fame), this bittersweet, stoner coming-of-age story is a considerably less creative yarn about a blue collar dopehead (Shawn Hatosy) sent to a restrictive prep school by his beer-swillin', paunch-scratchin' pop (Alec Baldwin) after he gets baked behind the wheel with his loaded friends and crashes into a parked police car. In over his head among the school's blue bloods, he enters a world of familiar movie tropes as he bunks with the school geek, finds an arch-nemesis in his starched dorm master and romances the unattainable girl (Amy Smart). Well-cast (Baldwin rocks) and bitterly funny once in a while, this is, nevertheless, largely aimless, predictable and falsely sentimental. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)