# The Van
**The Van** is a 1996 comedy-drama film directed by [Stephen Frears](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-frears) and written by [Roddy Doyle](https://www.edgepedia.org/roddy-doyle), adapted from his own novel. It is the third and final installment of Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy, following *The Commitments* (1991) and *The Snapper* (1993), and it follows two unemployed Dublin friends whose friendship deteriorates after they go into business together selling fried food from a rundown van.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/the-van-2/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Stephen Frears; screenplay by Roddy Doyle, adapted from his novel *The Van* (1992)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) |
| Cast | Colm Meaney (Larry), Donal O'Kelly (Bimbo), Ger Ryan (Maggie), Caroline Rothwell (Mary), Neilí Conroy (Diane)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) |
| Music | Original score by Eric Clapton and Richard Hartley[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) |
| Festival | In competition at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival; nominated for the Palme d'Or[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/the-van-2/) • [3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film992376.html) |
| Runtime / rating | 100 minutes (the Cannes version ran 105 minutes); rated R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) • [4](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-van-1997) |
| Release | Cannes premiere May 11, 1996; French release August 28, 1996; United States May 16, 1997[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118064/releaseinfo/) • [6](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0118064/credits/) |
| Box office | $714,197 worldwide, of which $712,095 was domestic[6](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0118064/credits/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story opens in Barrytown, a fictional working-class suburb of North Dublin, in November 1989. Brendan "Bimbo" Reeves, a baker, loses his job and, refusing a future of afternoon television and pubs, uses his redundancy money to buy a dilapidated van. As 1990 begins and World Cup fever sweeps Dublin, Bimbo and his best friend and partner Larry enter the fast food business, selling fish and chips, hamburgers, and sandwiches; Bimbo's wife Maggie is also involved.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/the-van-2/)
The enterprise starts well. Ireland's run at the 1990 World Cup, in which the Irish team reached the semifinals after defeating England and Romania, brings crowds to the pubs where the men park the van on game nights.[4](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-van-1997) But as the business prospers, things turn sour. The lack of working space, Larry's resentment of Maggie, and his self-pity undermine both the business and the friendship, and the van comes between the two men.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/the-van-2/) In the film's later stages the van is closed down by a health inspector, which Bimbo attributes to Larry reporting his questionable food preparation techniques, and the friendship is severed.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1077062-van) An unhappy Bimbo makes a desperate, drunken last bid to put things back the way they were.[8](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-van/umc.cmc.cy6i1gd03zc4alw4n47o4wri)
## Production
Roddy Doyle adapted his own novel for the screen and made his debut as a producer on the film, which was made by Deadly Films, the production company he set up with Lynda Myles, who had also produced the film versions of his earlier novels.[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-van-and-the-man-1.109306) The crew included cinematographer Oliver Stapleton, editor Mick Audsley, and production designer Mark Geraghty.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) The original score was composed by [Eric Clapton](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-clapton) and Richard Hartley; Frears said Clapton improvised the music in his spare room while watching the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-29-ca-63560-story.html)
[Colm Meaney](https://www.edgepedia.org/colm-meaney) appeared in all three films of the Barrytown trilogy, playing the father in *The Commitments* and *The Snapper* before taking the role of Larry.[4](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-van-1997) Much of *The Van* was shot on location in Kilbarrack, north Dublin, during the hottest summer on record.[11](https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fnf04n8.html) • [12](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2021/0530/1224630-chips-with-everything-revisit-the-van-tonight/)
## Release and reception
*The Van* premiered in competition at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival on May 11, where it was nominated for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor).[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118064/releaseinfo/) • [3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film992376.html) The Cannes version ran 105 minutes; Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic who won the [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism in 1975, wrote that the film was trimmed by about five minutes after Cannes and that, seeing it again a year later, he found it quicker and more alive.[4](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-van-1997) It opened in France on August 28, 1996, and in the United States on May 16, 1997, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118064/releaseinfo/) • [6](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0118064/credits/)
Critical reception was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 42% Tomatometer score from 19 reviews, against a 71% audience score from more than 500 ratings; on IMDb it rates 6.7 out of 10 from about 5,200 votes.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1077062-van) Ebert gave it three stars out of four, praising how it builds its comic scenes by close observation and calling its ending poignant and appropriately unresolved.[4](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-van-1997) [The Irish Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-irish-times) critic Michael Dwyer, reviewing the Cannes screening, wrote that the film failed to match *The Commitments* and *The Snapper* in pacing and energy and that the guitar-driven Clapton and Hartley score detracted from the mood, though he found at its heart a warm picture of two close friends.[13](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/lack-of-spark-from-the-van-1.48879) The Los Angeles Times reviewer Kevin Thomas called the film thin compared with the first two installments, while noting that Doyle's 1990 novel had been short-listed for the [Booker Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/booker-prize).[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-30-ca-63755-story.html)
## Place in the trilogy
*The Van* is generally regarded as the least successful of the three Barrytown films, but commentators have also read it as the most reflective of the Ireland of its moment. Released in 1996, a year after the divorce referendum ended in a narrow defeat for social conservatives, it contains no religious references at all, and Larry's family, with one son and one daughter whose status as a single mother goes unremarked upon, differs from the large families of the earlier films.[15](https://positionpapers.ie/2021/08/the-barrytown-trilogy-and-changing-ireland/) Its themes of long-term unemployment and midlife crisis are darker than those of *The Commitments* and *The Snapper*, and during RTÉ's 2021 retrospective series *Return to Barrytown*, both the director and the producer acknowledged that the film adaptation had not done the story justice.[15](https://positionpapers.ie/2021/08/the-barrytown-trilogy-and-changing-ireland/) • [12](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2021/0530/1224630-chips-with-everything-revisit-the-van-tonight/)
## References
1. [The Van (1996), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65133-THE-VAN)
2. [The Van, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/the-van-2/)
3. [The Van (1996), FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film992376.html)
4. [The Van movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-van-1997)
5. [The Van (1996) release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118064/releaseinfo/)
6. [The Van (1996), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0118064/credits/)
7. [The Van, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1077062-van)
8. [The Van, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-van/umc.cmc.cy6i1gd03zc4alw4n47o4wri)
9. [The Van and the Man, The Irish Times (23 November 1996)](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-van-and-the-man-1.109306)
10. [Stranger in a Strange Land, Los Angeles Times (29 May 1997)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-29-ca-63560-story.html)
11. [Film Notes: The Van, New York State Writers Institute](https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fnf04n8.html)
12. [Chips with everything: Revisit The Van, RTÉ (2021)](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2021/0530/1224630-chips-with-everything-revisit-the-van-tonight/)
13. [Lack of spark from The Van, The Irish Times (14 May 1996)](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/lack-of-spark-from-the-van-1.48879)
14. ['Van' Serves Up Thin Tale of Male Bonding in Barrytown, Los Angeles Times (30 May 1997)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-05-30-ca-63755-story.html)
15. [The Barrytown Trilogy and changing Ireland, Position Papers (2021)](https://positionpapers.ie/2021/08/the-barrytown-trilogy-and-changing-ireland/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 1995 to 1999 › Black and satirical comedies › Released 1995 to 1998*
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