A Van

"The Van" is one of very few novels that have made me laugh out loud, on numerous occasions, whilst reading it. Thus, I feared the movie couldn't possibly live up to the book and I was right.

The characters appear nowhere near as appealing as they do in the book -even the lead characters name has changed from Jimmy to Larry. In fact the Rabbite family has been drastically culled. The dialect can be difficult to catch at times (my wife mistook "World Peace" for "Wolf's p**s" during one pun). The "Living Dead" appear from nowhere and........no, I'm not doing any more comparisons.

If you want a good laugh read the book.

When Brenda 'Bimbo' Reeves is laid off he finds himself on the dole and irking out a unfulfilling life with friend Larry. When a 'friend' sells them a clapped out old chip van Bimbo and Larry decide to make a go of it and, once they have removed an inch of grease from the van and worked out how to move it without an engine, they are in business. With the pubs crammed due to the 1990 World Cup, business looks great and, as Ireland continue to win their way through the tournament, things just look like getting better and better.

Being from Northern Ireland myself, I always find something to like in Doyle's very typical delivery and, as such, will always give the films adapted from his work a try. With The Van doing average business in the cinemas, I had to wait till it came onto television before I could get a chance to see it and it was as I expected, an enjoyable working-class fable of friendship set against the backdrop of unemployment. As such it is pretty good – providing good humour throughout as well as a nice build of tension between the two friends. What I didn't think it did very well was deliver something beyond the boundaries the film had set itself. By this I mean I had expected that the film would be more realistic whereas it really was more of a fable with a moral about friendship over money; it is not a bad thing that it did this but the film could have been stronger with it in my opinion.

However, for what it tries to do it manages to be slight but amusing with a good little turn into the dramatic towards the end to set up the lesson for the day. The cast fit the bill for this type of material as well; Meaney may well have been in several big American hits but he is more at home here and he is a totally convincing working class Irish man. O'Kelly is just as good for different reasons – he is the same class but one who thought he was out; maybe you need to have lived around these sorts of areas but I thought he was realistic enough. The two have good chemistry and the support cast are also good value.

Overall this is not the best of Doyle's films but it is an enjoyable little slice of Irish life – albeit very simplified and served up in a sauce of cheerful poverty. The script doesn't go deeper than the superficial issues of friendship but this still work well enough and they produce an enjoyable little Irish fable that is amusing as it delivers a lesson about friendship that is thankfully free of sentimentality or slush.

Two Irish men with wives and children find themselves on the dole. One of them buys a large van and turns it into a "chippy." Naturally, he asks his best friend to work there with him. These two approaching-middle-age men have to work incredibly hard, but do have some success at the venture. It doesn't take long, however, for the friendship to get in the way. The one who fronted the money for the van is the boss, and the other one who didn't put up any money to get the small business going is the employee, who eventually becomes bitter at drawing a weekly paycheck from his best friend, who joins a union and begins antagonizing his best friend about labor laws, and whose insecurity in life shows clearly -- after all, the job isn't glamorous by any means, and of course, the reality of it is far removed from his dreams, we should imagine. The tension grows between the two. Set in Ireland during a World Cup Finals competition in soccer, this film gives us an intimate, grungy peek at the everyday realities of the poor in Ireland. It's "grand" to venture forth and set up one's own business and get off the dole, but of course, things are unlikely to run smoothly.

It's November 1989. Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly) is fired from the bakery. His best mate Larry (Colm Meaney) is struggling with only welfare for the coming Christmas. Bimbo is about to consider a MacDonald McJob when the guys are shown a food van. It's a piece of junk that doesn't even have an engine. Bimbo's wife buys the van and he invites Larry to join him selling fish and chips. Their chips van does smashingly as Ireland advances in the World Cup.

It's a steady decline from 'The Commitments' to 'The Snapper' and then to this. A more direct connection would have been better but I'm not an entertainment lawyer. It's still a fun watch. Donal O'Kelly doesn't have the screen presence. Colm Meaney is back and he overshadows everybody else. The trick is to make these poor losers lovable. Colm Meaney has that in spades. It would be better for them to get a steady young kid as their third. The relationship in the van is where this movie could have excel more. The guys' friendship could be more likable. I especially didn't like them picking up the ladies at the bar. Even their bickering could have been done with a lighter touch. Nevertheless it's still a fun ride.

In November 1989, in Ireland, the baker Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly) is fired from his job and he does not feel comfortable with the situation. His best friend Larry (Colm Meaney), who is also unemployed and living with his low welfare with his wife Mary (Caroline Rothwell) and their children, is resigned with his situation and tries to console his friend. But Bimbo is supported by his wife Maggie (Ger Ryan) and decides to buy an abandoned van without engine in a junkyard to open a business of hamburger, French fries and fried codfish and invites Larry to work with him. Soon they have financial success but their friendship is compromised.

"The Van" is a dramatic comedy directed by Stephen Frears that has a funny and exciting beginning and an unpleasant conclusion. The friendship of Larry and Bimbo is beautiful to see and their success is what every viewer expects to see. However, the final twist with the attitude of the big-mouth and envious Larry is disappointing. Maybe the bitter story is more realistic this way but I would prefer a happy ending, valuating friendship and hard work. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Van" ("The Van")