RIP Chris Penn

It's been ruled by doctors that Chris Penn's sad death was accidental, not deliberate.

The family may have wanted that detail known. They have kept all other details from the press, which Sean Penn famously despises.

I never thought Chris Penn's death was a suicide, but I do think he probably died from being Sean Penn's brother.

This is all conjecture on my part. I think it must have been really hard to be Sean Penn's little brother. Sean is really up there. He hangs out with Robert DeNiro, married Madonna and is now married to Robin Wright, often described as "the most beautiful woman in the world."

And there's something pretty cool about Sean Penn. (Even if the South Park guys think he's an idiot.) He doesn't do talk shows, he ignores the press, and he works seriously and well when he does work. I happen to love his acting even when he's in bloated, overblown messes like Mystic River. He nailed the role of Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, so brilliantly that he's still quoted to this day ("I just look at a wave and I say, 'let's party, man!'").

Then there's the fact that he's kind of the closest thing to James Dean we have. I don't mean he's young, incredibly beautiful and reckless. But he's got that impish, shit-eating-grin kind of charm. He's not phony, and he's flawed in ways women always fall for: he has a temper, he loves beautiful women and he smokes. (Oh, I know. But there's something alluring about the rebel figure and there always will be.)

Now, this has turned into a rhapsody about Sean Penn, not a consideration of Chris, which may illustrate my point. How could it have felt to be in the shadow of this reincarnation of Brando, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes all rolled into one? News reports have stated Chris Penn was on multiple medications at the time of his death. They could have been antidepressants, or they could have been barbituates, or both. The fact that he was taking a number of them suggests he was emotionally troubled. He may have been unable to avoid comparing himself to his famous brother, and used drugs to numb the pain.

I thought he was really good in Short Cuts, playing the husband to Jennifer Jason Leigh's young mother/phone-sex worker. He had the raw, unguarded quality his brother was able to tap, but with even more pathos, because he was less angry. In fact he didn't seem to be angry at all. It was Sean Penn, with all the esteem, the loving family, the awards and the money, who was angry.

There's no way to know what happened. And there's nothing to be done. And I might be wrong about all of this. RIP, Chris Penn.