Unless somebody can lay prior claim to it, let us invent the term "screwball tragedy" for an offbeat tale of bachelor fathers and sons in which four generations -- All in the Dysfunctional Family -- find themselves coming and going "Around the Bend."

		'Around the Bend' Rating: R for language and adult themes. Starring: Christopher Walken, Josh Lucas, Michael Caine, Jonah Bobo. Director: Jordan Roberts.

Grandpappy Henry (Michael Caine) is the head of the clan. He roars like a lion but is gentle as a lamb with great-grandson Zach (7-year-old Jonah Bobo). The kid's loving but uptight dad Jason (Josh Lucas) is not beaming with joy, due to the recent departure of his wife and ancient departure of his own father.

That would be Turner (Christopher Walken), the missing generational link -- literally and figuratively. A musician or a criminal or both, depending on your viewpoint, Turner disappeared early and totally from Jason's life.

Until now. Turner's sudden, not particularly welcome reappearance coincides with eccentric old Henry's death -- and equally eccentric last will and testament, deposited on slips of paper in a bunch of Kentucky Fried Chicken bags. Henry's instructions? To cremate his remains and scatter them bit by bit at specific far-flung locations in the California and New Mexico deserts.

Jason is strongly against carrying out the bizarre request. Turner insists on doing so -- with the little boy in tow. The result is a road trip and road film in which family (and family secrets) are reconstructed while Henry's ashes are deconstructed in lovin' spoonfuls.

Director-writer Jordan Roberts makes the most of many black-humorous moments provided by that idea, thanks in no small part to Caine, whose endearingly wacky character expires soon after the outset but sets the tone. Even wackier is Katrina (Glenne Headly), Henry's heavy-breathing housekeeper from Denmark, who loves horror films and pops in and out for over-the-top comic relief.

Comedy, on the other hand, is not normally associated with Walken, whose picture you'll find in Webster's next to the word "grizzled." But with director Roberts' help (and a little credibility stretch), Walken provides the bridge between this story's funny and serious elements.

I liked the funny better than the serious stuff: an ironic accompaniment of 8-track hits like "Takin' Care of Business," for instance, or that partial-plate denture hanging -- instead of dice -- from the rearview mirror of the guys' beat-up van. But the all-male major performances are strong, and young Bobo's is perhaps the best. He's that rare thing among child actors: convincing and cut but not cloying.

A plethora of plotty pain and passion here may or may not be satisfied for you by the film's emotional resolution (shades of "Midnight Cowboy"). But overall, give "Around the Bend" credit for originality, intelligent dialogue, soulful Southwest cinema- tography and surprisingly unsentimental warmth.