The Van, The Snapper or The Commitments?

HildaOgdenx

RayCon wrote: »

The Van , The Snapper , The Commitments in that order for me ...



... although my favourite line is in The Snapper :


"What's it to you who it was?


I couldn't give a ****e who it was. I'm not gonna buy the food, the nappies...or the little bleedin' track suits."

I'm laughing reading that!
Watched it yet again, at Christmas, and I laugh every time.

Thelonious Monk

Edit: wrong thread eek

Winning_Stroke

Recently I watch the Snapper. It's still hilarious and I enjoyed it immensely. Then The Van... that's not the movie I remember, scared to watch the Commitments based of it!

FTA69

The Commitments was the best Irish film ever made in my opinion. The Snapper is a gas show as well, the Van is ok but the book had far more depth to it; the struggle of an unemployed man slowly losing his self-esteem and all that.

All of them are great portrayals of working-class life but not done so in a miserable, condescending way (like Ken Loach often does).

Yurt2

The films and the books are terribly 90s - as someone else said, they haven't aged well. In fact, I'm not sure they were ever any good in the first place.

ArnoldJRimmer

All classics, The Van moreso for the book that the film, but The Commitments comes way out on top for me. Still watch it every couple of years, one of the more bizarre times when I was working out in India and it came on a regular TV channel at 11 in the morning. They do love their musicals I suppose, and the censors maybe couldn't understand the Dublin accent

Woke Hogan

They’re all absolute scutter. I’m sick of the constant self-romanticisation of Dublin and its boroughs by Dublin people.

Ger Roe

The Commitments - I like the music and mad Mickah Wallace.

I was in Sweden when it was released and some of my local colleagues went to see it and came back with the hand out of the 'Dublin Phrases' translation booklet that was given to them.

I remember that 'ask me bollix' was a particular favourite and was soon adopted into their everyday usage.:)

James Brown

I was playing funk and soul and trying to put a band together. Never happened. Ended up in numerous other genre bands. Anyhoo, The Commitments came out and was a mixed blessing. People knew who James Brown was and were more familiar with the genre, but the film references abide to this day, when you're talking to people who don't really know Funk/soul music. Film is alright in retrospect.
I think over all Roddy Doyle and Mrs. Brown's boys play it low brow, swearing in Dublin accents and characters being adoringly thick.

The book of The Van is excellent.

The Commitments is the best film, some spine tingling magical scenes, followed in a close second by a much lower key The Snapper.

JohnnyFlash

Never watched any of them. Roddy Doyle is an era-defining arsehole, so I can’t imagine the movies amount to much more than broad stereotypes, paper thin characters, and some jackeen in a pub going ‘me bollix’.

josip

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

All three are overflowing with gratuitous vulgar language, even from the younger children, which while maybe accurately reflective of the vernacular of that section of society or areas of Dublin, is most ofputting, and rather spoils them as what might otherwise have been an entertaining glimpse into that particular world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA9geIoN_a8

kona

Woke Hogan wrote: »

They’re all absolute scutter. I’m sick of the constant self-romanticisation of Dublin and its boroughs by Dublin people.

5 in a row.

Woke Hogan

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Never watched any of them. Roddy Doyle is an era-defining arsehole, so I can’t imagine the movies amount to much more than broad stereotypes, paper thin characters, and some jackeen in a pub going ‘me bollix’.

That’s exactly what they’re like. People from the Capital love consuming coarse, vulgar comedies sweetened with mawkish “Ah, I loves yizzers really, giz a big hug Shaddin” endings. Hungry pigs chewing down swill from a trough. Mrs Browns Boys is the exact same thing.

Bobblehats

Not a fan. One line in particular didn’t resonate with me

Woke Hogan

kona wrote: »

5 in a row.

What?

Declan A Walsh

My favourite film is The Snapper. Then it's too close to call between The Van and The Commitments. I like them all. The Snapper for the humour and the central performance of Colm Meaney, The Van for the humour and the World Cup nostalgia and The Commitments for the music and the humour.

JohnnyFlash

Is Meaney in them all? Yet another reason not to watch the things. Big Jackeen head on the gimp.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

All three are overflowing with gratuitous vulgar language, even from the younger children, which while maybe accurately reflective of the vernacular of that section of society or areas of Dublin, is most ofputting, and rather spoils them as what might otherwise have been an entertaining glimpse into that particular world.

If the vulgarity is reflective, why would you want it excised from the film?

Ray Palmer

The Van movie ended up focusing on the father and abandoning the teenage son who was just as important as the father in the book.

Missed huge section of the story as a result and made it a Colm Meany vehicle instead. Very slim story left behind as a result.

The Snapper is by far the best movie. The dialogue is funny but part of it is about knowing Dublin people of a certain type.

mumo3

Used to love The Snapper until my friend pointed out the film is in theory based on a rape and the aftermath!! She's right.

I was also told by somebody else, that roddy doyle used to be a teacher in dublin and those are peoples stories from the area he was based so they aren't an original thought, like all his work!!

vriesmays

My vote is for Family.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

mumo3 wrote: »

Used to love The Snapper until my friend pointed out the film is in theory based on a rape and the aftermath!! She's right.

I was also told by somebody else, that roddy doyle used to be a teacher in dublin and those are peoples stories from the area he was based so they aren't an original thought, like all his work!!

I don’t think he ever hid where his inspiration came from. Fashioning the stories into a book takes skill that not everyone would have.

buried

'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha' was a very good book. Some lovely elements of Psychogeography within it. Barren half urban half rural ditch wastelands kids used to play in. Very cool.

buried

buried wrote: »

'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha' was a very good book. Some lovely elements of Psychogeography within it. Barren half urban half rural ditch wastelands kids used to play in. Very cool.

Booker prize winner and will always be one of ex favourite books. Anyone who was ever a young boy will relate to it

buried

Deleted User wrote: »

Booker prize winner and will always be one of ex favourite books. Anyone who was ever a young boy will relate to it

Yeah I must get back to reading that again. Was very very good. I must have read it nearly over 20 years ago but I can still remember bits of it still burnt into my imagination all these years later. Brilliant work.

tastyt

Did you not see me over by the vegetables Sharon?

bcklschaps

The Commitments is an excellent movie with proper production values. The other two are made-for-TV stuff and suffer by comparison.

I would put them in this order.

1. The Commitments
2. The Snapper
3. The Van