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The Van

1996, Movie, R, 96 mins

The Van: Review

VAN, THE | FISH & CHIPS
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The last in a trilogy of Roddy Doyle tales about the working-class inhabitants of fictional Barrytown, North Dublin, this slight story about men and money has little of the charm of either THE COMMITMENTS or THE SNAPPER. Bakery worker Brendan "Bimbo" Reeves (Donal O'Kelly) is laid off, and decides to buy a fast food van rather than join his perpetually unemployed pals at the local pub. He invites big-hearted but truculent Larry (Colm Meaney, who's appeared in all three films, playing variations on the same character) to work with him, and while the enterprise starts well, the pressures of running even a small business begin to interfere with their friendship. The pleasures of this picture are incidental, sharply observed interactions between family members and old friends. But there's something smug and distasteful about the story, which comes dangerously close to celebrating a particularly pernicious form of masculine pride that disdains "unmanful" labor while sanctioning equally disheartening, low-paying work as long as women are doing it. Director Stephen Frears made similar material delightful in THE SNAPPER, but the average viewer is more likely to find this film more frustrating than charming, and even a bit dispiriting. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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