THE VAN
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1997 David N. Butterworth/The Summer Pennsylvanian
Rating: *** (Maltin scale)
Guinness, football, and chips.
These passions enrich the lives of the Irish residents of Barrytown, a fictional working-class Dublin neighborhood realized by writer Roddy Doyle. His "Barrytown trilogy" of films began with "The Commitments" (a slick, Alan Parker-helmed musical production), then continued with "The Snapper" and now "The Van," both directed by Stephen Frears. "The Van" continues the hilarious tone of number two, this time with a story of two good friends making a go of a lunchtruck business.
Contemplating a potential product, Larry (Colm Meaney) brings a batter-dipped, deep-fried sausage to his wife in bed and asks her how they make them. "I don't think they make them," Mary (Caroline Rothwell) replies, squinting at the grizzled, yellow piece of matter that approximates a corndog on a really bad day. "They just find them."
Frears is very much at home with the material. An interesting director who has graduated from gritty British beginnings ("My Beautiful Laundrette," "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid") to high-gloss Hollywood costume dramas ("Dangerous Liaisons," "Mary Reilly"), Frears still finds the time to work on smaller projects that interest him. With "The Van," the director confidently guides Doyle's daffy tale, capturing all of the writer's delightfully colorful language. "Hey, you with the head," Larry says to one customer. "What do you want?" "World peace," kids the young slouch. "You're barred!"
Eric Clapton also contributes to the film's production, co-writing and playing guitar on the evocative score.
"The Van" opens with Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly) finding himself "made redundant" from the baking job he's held all his life. Not content to simply pick up a weekly dole check like his friend Larry, Bimbo seizes an opportunity to be his own boss in the form of a run-down, engineless, grease-encrusted "chipper" van that, on inspection, "looks like the inside of a leper." Bimbo convinces Larry to go into business with him, and after several hosings, scrapings, and coatings of paint, "Bimbo's Burger's" is born. The film then centers on the relationship between Bimbo and Larry, previously men of leisure, and how their partnership presents new challenges to these fast--and fast food--friends.
Larry and Bimbo don't subscribe to our American values of hygiene and health consciousness, overlooking various code violations such as kicking raw chipped potatoes into buckets and accidentally tossing Pampers into the fry-o-lator. "The Van" is so in-your-face greasy that you can almost feel the whiteheads puckering under your skin while you're watching it--it's easy to see why deep-fried Snickers bars were once a big hit across the water! Meaney's pickled beetroot complexion adds to the experience, and many times in the film its spattered with hot lard. "Jay-sus!" (The swear box is always full in Larry's house.) Meaney is at his best playing blustery, blood-vessel bursting Dubliners like Larry. When Larry is forced to wear a suit and tie, either for Christmas dinner or to go out to a wine bar, he looks like a garden gnome.
"The Van" has ample opportunities for melodramatic subplots but sticks to its guns. Every time the two men fall out and heaviness threatens, they resolve their differences over pints (make that imperial gallons) of stout. The relationship between Larry and Bimbo is fresh and genuinely touching; this is a film as much about friendship as it is about working class values (Bimbo has a work ethic; Larry has an attitude).
In a deeper vein, both men have marriages that are uncommonly important in their lives. The wives' roles, while secondary in the film, provide depth and charm to the project. While the men faff and fuss, Mary and Maggie (Ger Ryan) look on, providing a calming and steadying influence.
While the ending of "The Van" may seem a little anti-climactic, the journey to that point is very funny, with just a smattering of real poignancy.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@mail.med.upenn.edu
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