The Van

This is the third film from Roddy Doyle's trilogy about life in Barrytown, North Dublin. (Roddy Doyle has been extremely popular among a wide reading public since he won the Booker Prize in 1993 for 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.') The story of this film is simple: Having been made redundant and faced with the prospective of spending life like his out-of-work friends, Bimbo decides to buy a buy a disgustingly filthy second-hand van in order to sell burgers and fish and chips. Once the 1990 World Cup is on its way and Ireland qualifies, he decides that his new enterprise could become very interesting economically. He shares the business with his best (and equally unemployed) friend. The rest is filling in time.

Alan Parker did a nice job with 'The Commitments', the first part of the trilogy. Stephen Frears did a nice job with 'The Snapper', the second part of the trilogy. Frears is not quite up to par this time around. The one redeeming value of the film is that it will probably keep you away from snack bars and fast-food joints for a while.