Snapper, The

Good-natured humor, familiar domestic crises and unbridled family loyalty mark "The Snapper," a rowdy and rousing Irish comedy that will amuse its intended art-house audience but may also prompt some reflection about the family unit as it exists in the '90s.

Colm Meaney, best-known for his role on the two "Star Trek" TV series, "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," plays Dessie, the father of this rude brood, and he pretty much splits the bulk of the screen time with Tina Kellegher, as his daughter Sharon.

The film's episodic narrative hinges on one particular plot point, the fact that Sharon is pregnant. Dessie and his wife, Kay (Ruth McCabe), get the news in the film's opening moments, and he asks the obvious question: "Who's the father?" But Sharon's not telling, and it causes some discomfort in the household, and ultimately ripples through the entire community.

Plot aside, however, "The Snapper" is mostly notable for the small but telling moments of disruptive domestic bliss, as when the family gathers for meals around the kitchen table, watches television in the living room, welcomes home the oldest son as he returns from military service, celebrates a younger boy's birthday . . . . Scenes like these offer some surprisingly recognizable moments, little bits of business that touch on feelings about the joys and pains of both parenthood and childhood.

Meaney and Kellegher are terrific, as is the rest of the cast, and director Stephen Frears ("The Grifters," "Dangerous Liaisons") and screenwriter Roddy Doyle ("The Commitments") hit an awful lot of perfect notes as the film progresses.

"The Snapper" is noisier, darker and less cartooney than that other father-daughter relationship film, "Father of the Bride," and quite satisfying in its own disarming way.

And despite a comment from Dessie that "things are different today," when the film is over, you may leave feeling that things haven't really changed all that much.

"The Snapper" is rated R for profanity, vulgarity and sex.