'The Van' Drives Like a Dream

You'd think after watching "The Van," that Irishmen do nothing but chug Guinness, curse like convicts, scream themselves stupid at soccer games and eat anything, as long as it's fried in batter. This, of course, is a false and denigrating generalization. Some Irishmen scream themselves stupid at rugby games.

You can form your own skewed impressions in Stephen Frears's gem of a comedy, which completes a glorious Roddy Doyle hat trick -- the previous adaptations of Doyle's Irish novels being "The Commitments" and "The Snapper."

In fictional Barrytown, the banter comes fast, dirty and furious, ricocheting around pub tables, cramped kitchens and out into the street. In this North Dublin hamlet, where unemployment, family life and pubs form the trinity of life, there's nothing better to do than talk. Profanity is everyone's spoken jazz. Among these cacophonous cursers, no one plays the f-word like Larry (Colm Meaney).

And no one's happier doing nothing. An out-of-work dad and husband, Larry has taken to unemployment like a bird to the skies. He hasn't the slightest care in the world, even though he's always struggling for pocket money. When his industrious friend, Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly), gets riffed, however, Larry's peaceable existence is over. He welcomes Bimbo to the jobless, pint-sipping fold. But Bimbo's miserable without work. And when he learns about a run-down, old hamburger truck (known as a chipper -- as in fish and chips), he recruits Larry to help him out.

A thorough, elbow-greasy cleaning session later, the new van -- dubbed Bimbo's Burgers -- is ready to roll: literally. It has no engine to speak of. But with a car and cable, they can tow it from place to place. Enlisting Larry's daughter as their pretty, short-order assistant, they park the van outside their local pub and wait. The house is full of soccer fans, watching a critical World Cup game for Ireland. The game's over, but they still haven't come out. The chipper trio waits. And waits.

Suddenly, a gaggle of bingo ladies appears out of nowhere. Larry and Bimbo are deluged with orders for fish and chips, fried sausages, hamburgers and other questionable delicacies. Next the pub empties out too. They're in the money! This thing is working! But will their new, elbow-to-elbow relationship break down -- especially when Larry decides to join a union and demand 10-minute coffee breaks?

Director Frears, who did "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Dangerous Liaisons" and "The Snapper," blesses this comedy with a fast, loose spirit. He seems abundantly happy to be making this movie. It shows. There's never a dull moment, whether it's Bimbo's comically teary reaction to his firing, Megadeth metal fans rocking the chipper at a rock concert or Larry doing just about anything.

Meaney is the journeyman of the Barrytown trilogy and its most valuable player. Although he was a supporting character in "The Commitments," he stole every scene he was in as a goofy father obsessed with Elvis Presley. In "The Snapper," he was equally amusing -- again as a father -- worried about his 20-year-old daughter's surprise pregnancy. But in "The Van," he carries the day, as an overgrown kid struggling with far too many grown-up worries. Every growl, scowl and muttered oath is something to savor. In a wonderful moment early in the film, he's tight and trussed in a suit at a Christmas Day lunch with Bimbo's family. Stuck in the living room with Bimbo's mother-in-law, a toad-like woman overdressed in jewels and a formal costume, he tries to make conversation.

"It's a grand smell coming out of the kitchen, what?" he offers. But Bimbo's mother-in-law says nothing, smacking noisily on her chops. In a movie where dialogue is almost everything, this moment of silence -- exemplified by Larry's acute discomfort and a dippy version of "Frostie the Snowman" playing softly in the background -- is devastatingly funny.

THE VAN (R) -- Contains profanity, the death of an animal and minor scuffles; the accents may be a little thick for some viewers.