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?

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Plot Keywords:

van | fish | friendship | business | irish | 

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Taglines:

A large portion of life...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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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).

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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.

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Quotes

Bimbo: Got a bit of bad news today. Knocked me back a bit. I was let go.
Larry: What?
Bimbo: Made redundant.

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Connections

References Ghostbusters II (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole"
Composed by Armath and J Deja
By Kind Permission of Hans Kusters Music NV/Chelsea Music Publishing Company Limited

User Reviews

not the van-guard of Roddy Doyle adaptations, but still worth seeing

OK, apparently, Colm Meaney (happy birthday, Colm!) is best known for a "Star Trek" role, but I always associate him with his roles in adaptations of Roddy Doyle novels. They are "The Commitments", "The Snapper" and "The Van". The last one casts as a down-on-his-luck Dubliner who with his friend finds a grimy abandoned van and opens it up. While I mostly liked the movie, it did have the problem of showing the Irish drinking and moping about life's travails; is that the only way to stereotype people from the Emerald Isle? But otherwise, I found it a pretty good look at working-class life in Ireland. Once again, Stephen Frears added another accomplishment to his resume, recently continued with "The Queen". I recommend it, and see whether or not you want to get a bite to eat from any random van after watching this.