MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Passed Away’ a Wise, Wry Look at Life

On a pleasant autumnal day in an unnamed small New England city Johnny Scanlan (Bob Hoskins), a middle-aged tree trimmer, drives his transportation union official father, Jack (Jack Warden), to work. It’s Jack’s first day back after a heart attack, and he swears he never felt better in his life. But when his younger son Frank (William Petersen), who is his assistant, stages a surprise welcome back party his startled father keels over dead.

The deft way in which writer-director Charlie Peters stages this prologue is a precursor to all the good things to come in “Passed Away” (citywide), a wonderfully wise and wry comedy as perceptive and compassionate as it is uproarious and satirical. Like the eminent Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami, in his very similar 1985 comedy “The Funeral,” Peters sees the entire human comedy unfold in the course of Jack Scanlan’s protracted and boisterous Irish-American wake, which brings out both the best and the worst in so many participants.

Hardest hit by Jack’s death is Johnny, who was counting on getting some advice on his midlife crisis from his father the very evening he died. Suddenly thrust into the role of patriarch of a large clan, the ever-dependable Johnny is all too aware that he is not the big success his blustery larger-than-life father was. He’s overcome by a sense of his own mortality and a desire to cut loose from his conventional existence with his lovely, patient wife (Blair Brown), who understands him better than he does himself. Very quickly all of his longings focus on a vibrant young woman, Cassie (Nancy Travis), whom he assumes to be his father’s mistress since no one seems to know her when she turns up at the handsome old Scanlan residence to pay her respects.

Jack’s death proves to a catalyst for his other grown children as well. His daughter Terry (Pamela Reed), a dancer who hasn’t exactly become the toast of Broadway, coaxes her wayward ex (Tim Curry, hilarious) into accompanying her for appearance’s sake. His other daughter Nora (Frances McDormand), thought to be in a cloistered convent, shows up with a freedom fighter (Antone DiLeo) from El Salvador, where she has become a self-described “liberationist theologian.” Poor Frank will never succeed his father at the union; he’s even “thick as a brick” to his loving mother, Mary (Maureen Stapleton), the kind of unprepossessing traditional wife and mother whose family assumes that she knows nothing about what’s going on but who in fact is aware of just about everything.

There are 46 speaking parts in “Passed Away,” and every single one of them registers perfectly, no matter how briefly. It shows off to particular advantage the always delightful Hoskins, Reed as the feisty Terry and Travis, who has the down-to-earth sparkle of the young Barbara Stanwyck. “Passed Away” (rated PG-13 for language, adult themes) is an ambitious project for a directorial debut, but Peters, a seasoned writer, never falters, creating an ensemble effect with his cast while achieving a graceful cinematic flow.

‘Passed Away’

Bob Hoskins: Johnny Scanlan

Blair Brown: Amy Scanlan

Tim Curry: Boyd Pinter

Frances McDormand: Nora Scanlan

William Petersen; Frank Scanlan

Pamela Reed: Terry Scanlan

Peter Riegert: Peter Syracusa

Maureen Stapleton: Mary Scanlan

Nancy Travis: Cassie Slocombe

Jack Warden: Jack Scanlan

A Buena Vista release of a Hollywood Pictures presentation in association with Touchwood Pacific Partners I of a Morra/Brezner/Steinberg production. Writer-director Charlie Peters. Producers Larry Brezner, Timothy Marx. Cinematographer Arthur Albert. Editor Harry Keramidas. Costumes Jennifer Von Mayrhauser. Music Richard Gibbs. Production design Catherine Hardwicke. Art director Gilbert Mercier. Set decorator Gene Serdena. Sound John Pritchett. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (language, adult themes).