Passed Away

Jack Warden is very good in the opening moments of "Passed Away," playing the blustery, bull-headed patriarch of a large Irish-American family. He's just recovered from a massive heart attack, but he's still trying to run everyone's affairs.

Unfortunately, it isn't long before he's out of the picture. The death of Warden's character is the pivotal plot point that brings together his estranged family of lunatics.

Bob Hoskins has the central role as the oldest son in the midst of a mid-life crisis, but the film is essentially an ensemble comedy, with a series of zany family members who come together for Warden's viewing, wake and funeral.

In the first half of the film, as characters are introduced and family secrets are hinted at, there are some scattered big laughs as we meet Hoskins' neurotic sister (Pamela Reed), a professional dancer who can't tell her family she's been divorced for four years; Reed's ex-husband (Tim Curry), a self-centered theater snob; Reed's old boyfriend (Peter Riegert), an embalmer who may still have eyes for her; another sister (Frances McDormand), a hip leftist nun; a dimwitted brother (William Petersen) involved in union politics; Hoskins' long-suffering wife (Blair Brown); and a mysterious stranger (Nancy Travis), whom everyone thinks is Warden's young mistress.

The easy, whimsical meetings between these people provide the film's most enjoyable moments. But when it shoots for larger, more theatrical set-pieces, like the Chinese fire-drill funeral parade, it tends to fall flat.

The cast is good, especially Hoskins, Petersen, Travis, Reed and Riegert, but Brown, and Maureen Stapleton as Warden's widow have little to do.

Wacky comedy — especially wacky comedy with a dark edge and a big cast — is very hard to pull off. And, to his credit, screenwriter/-first-time director Charlie Peters (writer of "Three Men and a Little Lady," "Blame it On Rio," "Her Alibi") manages to pull it off pretty well in the first half of "Passed Away." But he is simply unable to sustain his premise; the contrivances begin to fray at the seams far too early.

But there are some funny moments here, and the cast tries very hard. If you're just looking for a simple light comedy, "Passed Away" can pretty much fill the bill.

It is rated PG-13 for a fair amount of profanity and vulgarity, implied sex and a couple of dead bodies.