''The Van'' is a 1996 film, based on the novel '' The Van'' (the third in ''

The Barrytown Trilogy ''The Barrytown Trilogy'', later also referred to as ''The Barrytown Pentalogy'', is an Irish comedy-drama media franchise centred on the Rabbittes, a working-class family from Barrytown, Dublin. It began in 1988 when Beacon Pictures and 20t ...

'') by

Roddy Doyle Roddy Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, eight books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been ma ...

. Like '' The Snapper'' (1993), it was directed by

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

. The first film of the trilogy, '' The Commitments'' (1991), was directed by

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

. It was entered into the

1996 Cannes Film Festival The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996. The Palme d'Or went to '' Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh. The festival opened with ''Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and closed with '' Flirting with Disaster'', directed by ...

. The film stars

Colm Meaney Colm J. Meaney (; ga, Colm Ó Maonaigh; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994) and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He has guest-starred on many T ...

and

Donal O'Kelly Donal O'Kelly (born 1958) is an Irish playwright and actor. Early life O'Kelly was born in Dublin in 1958. He worked in the Irish Civil Service as a computer programmer, before quitting to become active in theatre and politics. Career O'Kelly' ...

Plot

Brendan "Bimbo" Reeves gets laid off from his job as a baker in Barrytown, a working-class quarter of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. With his redundancy cheque, he buys a van and sells

fish and chips Fish and chips is a popular hot dish consisting of fried fish in crispy batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who created t ...

with his best mate, Larry. Due, in part, to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

's surprising success at the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

, their business starts off well. However, the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo and his wife, Maggie, behave more and more like typical bosses. Larry believes that Maggie is the cause of the strained friendship, as he thinks she is pushing Bimbo away from him. Then the van is closed down because of poor hygiene by health inspector Des O'Callaghan. Bimbo thinks that Larry told the Health Board about the van, leading to a fight between the two. Larry quits the job, despite Bimbo's best efforts to get him back. Bimbo then drives the van into the sea, so as to win his friendship with Larry back.

Cast

as Larry *

as Brendan "Bimbo" Reeves *

Ger Ryan Ger Ryan is an Irish film and television actress, whose credits include '' Queer as Folk'', ''Family'', '' The War of the Buttons'', '' The Van'', ''Moll Flanders'', ''Intermission'' and '' Little Dog''. Career Ryan has twice been nominated for ...

as Maggie * Caroline Rothwell as Mary * Neilí Conroy as Diane *

Rúaidhrí Conroy Rúaidhrí Conroy (born 30 November 1979 in Dublin) is an Irish actor. He is the son of actor Brendan Conroy. One of his first castings was as Tito (and not Tayto as commonly misconceived) in the 1992 film '' Into the West'', for which he won ...

as Kevin *

Brendan O'Carroll Brendan O'Carroll (born 17 September 1955) is an Irish actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. He is best known for portraying foul-mouthed matriarch Agnes Brown on stage and in the BBC and RTÉ television sitcom ''Mrs. Brown's Boys''. ...

as Weslie *

Stuart Dunne Stuart Dunne is an Irish actor and artist. He is best known for his dark and violent portrayal of the character Billy Meehan on the Irish soap opera ''Fair City''. He was nominated at the 2003 Irish Film and Television Awards for Best Actor in ...

as Sam * Laurie Morton as Maggie's Mum *

Marie Mullen Marie Mullen (born 1953) is an Irish actress. She is known for co-founding the Druid Theatre Company, located in Galway, Ireland. She is also known for her performance in the 1998 production of ''The Beauty Queen of Leenane'', for which she rec ...

as Vera *

Jon Kenny Jonathan Kenny (born 12 December 1957) is an Irish comedian and actor who lives in Lough Gur and is one half of the famous Irish comic duo d'Unbelievables with Pat Shortt.

as Gerry McCarthy

Reception

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' wrote: "When I saw ''The Van'' for the first time at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 1996, I felt it was the least of the three films, and I still do, but it was trimmed of about five minutes of footage after Cannes and, seeing it again a year later, I found it quicker and more alive. It is also the most thoughtful, in a way, and the ending has a poignancy and an unresolved quality that is just right: These disorganized lives would not fit into a neat ending".

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the film a score of 38% based on reviews from 21 critics. It opened in the UK on 29 November 1996 on 94 screens and finished in sixth place for the weekend with a gross of £204,447.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van, The Films directed by Stephen Frears 1996 films 1996 comedy-drama films Irish comedy-drama films English-language Irish films Films set in Dublin (city) Films shot in Dublin (city) Films set in 1990 Films based on Irish novels Films scored by Eric Clapton Fox Searchlight Pictures films Beacon Pictures films 1990s English-language films