11. The Van (1996)
Set in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown, a fictitious working class district of Dublin, Brendan 'Bimbo' Reeves gets made redundant from his work in a bakery. With his pay off, he buys a dilapidated fish and chips van with his best friend Larry. Ireland is doing well in the 1990 World Cup and this draws a lot of business to Bimbo and Larry. Bimbo's wife Maggie causes tensions between Larry and Bimbo. The van fails a health inspection and shuts them out of business. Bimbo thinks Larry dobbed them in and this leads to a fight and Larry quitting. How can Bimbo make it up to Larry and restore their friendship? A strange movie in that it is funny but also very poignant. It isn't one of Doyle's stronger books nor one of the strongest adaptations of his work, but it still retains a gentle charm and wit. We love to see Bimbo and Larry do well. The film is very class conscious and set upon a background of working class poverty and hardship with Larry and Bimbo desperate to escape the confines of being down and out by running their little business. The film has a lot to say about the nature of friendship and it seems to suggest at the end that friendship is worth more than money and business. Well that is all well and good but what job prospects do Larry and Bimbo have? This is Dublin in the pre Celtic Tiger Economy and things are grim indeed. You want so badly for the two characters to succeed, they are likeable fellows. Hopefully they made it to D4 when the economic boom came.