The Van

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff
Director: Stephen Frears
Writer: Roddy Doyle
Director of Photography: Oliver Stapleton
Editor: Mick Audsley
Music: Eric Clapton
Production Designer: Mark Geraghty
Producer: Lynda Miles
Fox Searchlight; R; 105 minutes
Release: 5/97
Cast: Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly, Ger Ryan and Caroline Rothwell
Based on the novel by Roddy Doyle

The Van is not as sharply observed or as boisterous as the first two installments of Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy, The Commitments and The Snapper, but it is a sincere portrayal of Dublin's working class. When bakery worker Bimbo (O'Kelly) loses his job, he heads to the pub to commiserate with his out-of-work buddies. Bimbo convinces his best friend, Larry (Meaney), to go into business with him. They decide to peddle fried food out of a chipper van and scrape together enough money to buy a grease-infested, broken-down truck. Their timing could not be better. Set in 1990, when Ireland advanced to the World Cup finals, they park the van outside pubs on game nights and make a killing. But the partnership nearly destroys the friendship as Bimbo questions Larry's work ethic. The crud under Larry's fingernails doesn't help Bimbo's confidence.


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