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The Van

The Van

Comedy · Drama · 1996

In a working-class quarter of Dublin, 'Bimbo' Reeves gets laid off from his job and, with his redundancy payout, buys a van and sells fish and chips with his buddy, Larry. Due to Ireland's surprising success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their business starts off well, but the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo behaves more like a typical boss.

Movie details

The Van

“A comedy about friends, family and fish.”

1996 Comedy · Drama 1h 40m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

In a working-class quarter of Dublin, 'Bimbo' Reeves gets laid off from his job and, with his redundancy payout, buys a van and sells fish and chips with his buddy, Larry. Due to Ireland's surprising success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their business starts off well, but the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo behaves more like a typical boss.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Van?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Stephen Frears

Written by

Roddy Doyle

Colm Meaney

Colm Meaney

Larry

Donal O'Kelly

Donal O'Kelly

'Bimbo'

Ger Ryan

Ger Ryan

Maggie

C

Caroline Rothwell

Mary

Neilí Conroy

Neilí Conroy

Diane

Rúaidhrí Conroy

Rúaidhrí Conroy

Kevin

Brendan O'Carroll

Brendan O'Carroll

Weslie

Court is in session

Put The Van on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.