Passed Away

Stars: Bob Hoskins (Hook, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), William Petersen (To Live and Die in L.A., Hard Promises), Maureen Stapleton (Cocoon, Nuts, Made In Heaven), Nancy Travis (Three Men and a Baby, Internal Affairs), Tim Curry (Oscar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Pamela Reed (Kindergarten Cop), Blair Brown (TV's "Molly Dodd"), Frances McDormand. When John Scanlan's (Bob Hoskins) dad drops dead, he's left with the arrangements for a big-time Irish wake in writer-director Charlie Peters fluffy confection. Trading good comic writing for the lure of an ensemble cast, Passed Away trots out one cliché after another as the far flung Scanlan clan begin to arrive: the wayward daughter who married a choreographer/homosexual (Reed and Curry), the straight daughter who became a nun that now tenders to El Salvadorans (McDormand), the athletic son who doesn't really have the brains to fill dad's shoes as a union spokesperson (Petersen), the mother (Stapleton) who says little but knows everything (including the fact that her niece is pregnant out of wedlock), and the mystery woman who shows up at the wake and is widely believed to be dad's side dish (Travis). Harmless entertainment, to be sure, Passed Away is also pretty lazy. Amidst all the bluster of so many characters running around onscreen, viewers eventually realize that they're occasionally smiling but not really laughing. With so much competition, no one really has a chance to grow--it's just on for a line, off for awhile, on for another line, etc. Audience: People looking for a light, untaxing, comedy will probably enjoy this time-passer.