The Van (1996)

The third installment of Irish author Roddy Doyle's 'Barrytown Trilogy', following 'The Commitments' and 'The Snapper', depicts the hilarious yet poignant adventures of Bimbo. Upon being ... See full summary »

Director:

Stephen Frears

Writers:

Roddy Doyle (novel), Roddy Doyle (screenplay)

Stars:

Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly, Ger Ryan

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Colm Meaney	...	Larry
Donal O'Kelly	...	Bimbo
Ger Ryan	...	Maggie
Caroline Rothwell	...	Mary
Neilí Conroy	...	Diane
Rúaidhrí Conroy	...	Kevin
Brendan O'Carroll	...	Weslie
Stuart Dunne	...	Sam
Jack Lynch	...	Cancer
Laurie Morton	...	Maggie's Mum
Marie Mullen	...	Vera
Jon Kenny	...	Gerry McCarthy
Moses Rowen	...	Glenn
Linda McGovern	...	Jessica
Eoin Chaney	...	Wayne

Storyline

The third installment of Irish author Roddy Doyle's 'Barrytown Trilogy', following 'The Commitments' and 'The Snapper', depicts the hilarious yet poignant adventures of Bimbo. Upon being fired from his job at the bakery, Bimbo and his best mate go into business for themselves and purchase a chipper (a fish and chips van); but will the pressures of financial success sour their friendship forever?

---

Plot Keywords:

van | fish | friendship | business | irish | 

---

Taglines:

A large portion of life...

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language

Details

Country:

UK Ireland USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 May 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Carrinha

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios, Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$23,366 (USA) (16 May 1997)

Gross:

$621,093 (USA) (15 August 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beacon Communications, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Deadly Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the third story in Roddy Doyle's "Barrytown Trilogy", following the adventures of the Rabbitte family. However, as 20th Century Fox owned the film rights to the Rabbitte name (from The Commitments), the characters had to be re-named in the subsequent film adaptations (The Snapper, The Van).

---

Goofs

The movie is set during World Cup 1990, and on at least two occasions, the radio can be heard promoting 98FM. This station did not use this branding until the mid 1990s; it was called Classic Hits at the time.

---

Quotes

Weslie, Fox Hound Regular: [after Ireland have scraped a 1-1 draw with England during Italia '90] Winston Churchill, Lawrence Of Arabia, Elton John! Yiz can all go *fuck* yerselves!

---

Connections

References Red River (1948)

---

Soundtracks

"Frosty the Snowman"
Performed by The Ventures
Licensed by EMI Records UK
By Arrangement with EMI Special Markets UK

User Reviews

Not even the best film about a snack van

Roddy Doyle's Barrytown trilogy was an affectionate, humorous but unsentimental look at life in the poor suburbs of Dublin; all three books have now been turned into films. 'The Commitments', directed by Alan Parker, was virtually a musical; in the original, Doyle hilariously peppered his text with fragments of the lyrics of the songs his protagonists (a soul band) were singing; in the film, the songs were played straight, and pretty much in their entirety, and some of the subtleties of the plot were also lost. Stephen Frears did better in making a low key film of book two, and is also at the directorial helm for this film of the final book. 'The Van' represented a slight change of direction for Doyle, a weighter piece of fiction than his earlier efforts; but it's still fun, and a sensitive portrait of male friendship. However, I don't like the film very much, even though it is quite faithful to the book in both content and tone; for in spite of this, it has lost the spark, and the vision, that the writing possessed, and appears coarse and clumsy in comparison. An Eric Clapton score is used insensitively, underscoring dialogue with unnecessary frequency; the acting (especially from Colm Meaney) renders the characters close to parody; the camera work is needlessly jumpy; while the plot is reduced to a series of set-piece encounters. This is supposedly a naturalistic movie, but never manages to convey the rhythms of ordinary life. While judged as against other films that tell tales of working class survival, it has not the political anger of the works of Ken Loach, the emotional impact of 'Brassed Off' or the jauntiness of 'The Full Monty'. Perhaps the most cruel cinematic comparison, however, brought to obvious attention by the prominent presence of a decrepit snack van, is with Mike Leigh's 'Life is Sweet', a film whose originality and desperate humour make a stark contrast with the dull clichéd Oirishisms on display here. Conclusion: read the book instead.