VAN, THE

SYNOPSIS:
The third instalment in Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown trilogy (The Commitments, The Snapper), this is a story of a friendship between two men and their ill-fated partnership in a fish’n’chips van. After getting laid off from his job, a depressed Bimbo (O’Kelly) has the bright idea to use his severance money (a pittance, really) to buy a disused van and turn it into a mobile fish and chip take-away. He invites his friend, Larry (Meaney) to be his partner, believing they will make a killing during the world cup series, when fans will emerge ravenous from footy fields. The moral of the story is never mix business with friendhsip. The van becomes a symbol of disunity and challenges their freindship.

"Frears, one of my favourite directors on the strength of Dangerous Liaisons alone, seems to have missed a beat here, either in failing to see a lack of substance or failing to mould the form to make up for it. Episodic and somehow under-energised, The Van is a story of suburban angst, where a retrenched worker and his mate try to run a small business and find the strains of working together cause friction in the friendship. Hardly novel as an idea, nor is it enough to sustain a film, despite the fine performances. Neither of the two central characters offers us any reason to be deeply involved with them, consequently we are less than passionate about their venture or even their friendship. Where Alan Parker’s juicy handling of Doyle’s The Commitments gave us a bunch of characters with a passion to do something with their otherwise empty lives, these two blokes are too wet and silly to make us care."
Andrew L. Urban