MALE BONDING BY THE BUCKET.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

FOUR GENERATIONS of males learn the value of family and eat a lot of KFC in ``Around the Bend.'' It looks like an independent production, sometimes sounds like an indie, but leaves a fried chicken commercial aftertaste.

While he avoids the bathos found in many male weepies, screenwriter and first-time director Jordan Roberts never quite goes the distance into compelling drama, either. Some serious father/son issues rest at the core of this road-ranging story (which was, he says, inspired by Roberts' own unsatisfying relationship with an absentee dad), but too many precious elements block the route to real emotional identification.

These include but are not limited to: a twinkly, death-obsessed patriarch (Michael Caine); a cute kid (Jonah Bobo); a comedy-relief Danish nurse (Glenne Headly) who watches horror movies in bed; David Baerwald's eccentric score, punctuated by earthy '70s sounds that seem like meaningful accompaniment for important scenes but aren't; two cute dogs; and a scavenger hunt that's really a front for a journey of reconciliation and fast-food advertising.

Caine's Henry Lair is a retired archaeologist who lives in a cramped L.A. duplex with the nurse, his limping grandson Jason (Josh Lucas, excellent in a rare chance to play an average guy with everyday problems) and Jason's 6-year-old boy, Zach (Bobo), whose mom has run off to paint in Nepal. When Turner (Christopher Walken, more zoned than usual), the father Jason never knew, shows up unexpectedly, the delighted Henry hosts a chicken feast in his prodigal son's honor.

A few contrivances later, reluctant Turner, resentful Jason and pleased-with-the-adventure Zach are driving in an old, eight-track-playing van to New Mexico at Henry's request. Along the way, Jason inevitably learns why his father abandoned him, what the haunted old weirdo has been up to lately (no good) and where his own limp came from. Lessons in forgiveness and unconditional love are also on the itinerary.

A modest production that makes evocative use of Southwestern landscapes, ``Around the Bend'' really only connects when Turner and Jason are snarl-dancing around one another (Walken does some physical dancing as well, which apparently is written into all of his movie contracts now, since he made that Fatboy Slim video).

Sad but redeeming, the movie wears its John Irving aspirations on its sleeve. You can probably find Col. Sanders' face on the film cans in the projection booth.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

AROUND THE BEND - Two and one half stars

(R: language, children in jeopardy)

Starring: Josh Lucas, Christopher Walken, Jonah Bobo, Michael Caine.

Director: Jordan Roberts.

Running time: 1 hr. 25 min.

Playing: ArcLight, Hollywood; Laemmle Monica, Santa Monica.

In a nutshell: Estranged father and adult son bond on cross-country trip. Christopher Walken tries to make it weird, but it's conventional male weepie stuff all the way.

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Four generations of men get together for the first time in ``Around the Bend.''