It's November 1989. Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly) is fired from the bakery. His best mate Larry (Colm Meaney) is struggling with only welfare for the coming Christmas. Bimbo is about to consider a MacDonald McJob when the guys are shown a food van. It's a piece of junk that doesn't even have an engine. Bimbo's wife buys the van and he invites Larry to join him selling fish and chips. Their chips van does smashingly as Ireland advances in the World Cup.

It's a steady decline from 'The Commitments' to 'The Snapper' and then to this. A more direct connection would have been better but I'm not an entertainment lawyer. It's still a fun watch. Donal O'Kelly doesn't have the screen presence. Colm Meaney is back and he overshadows everybody else. The trick is to make these poor losers lovable. Colm Meaney has that in spades. It would be better for them to get a steady young kid as their third. The relationship in the van is where this movie could have excel more. The guys' friendship could be more likable. I especially didn't like them picking up the ladies at the bar. Even their bickering could have been done with a lighter touch. Nevertheless it's still a fun ride.

This is the story of two men belonging to the the Irish working class who after being sacked decide to start a business with a van for making and selling hamburgers and the like stuff. After a while their mutual relationship turns into a boss-employee one and things began to become worse until because friendship is thicker than money they began again to get well along with each other. The story is told in a half serious half funny way. It's very simple but not the less deep because of that. It's full of amusing episodes and details of everyday life but its very true, authentic and realistic.

Two Irish men with wives and children find themselves on the dole. One of them buys a large van and turns it into a "chippy." Naturally, he asks his best friend to work there with him. These two approaching-middle-age men have to work incredibly hard, but do have some success at the venture. It doesn't take long, however, for the friendship to get in the way. The one who fronted the money for the van is the boss, and the other one who didn't put up any money to get the small business going is the employee, who eventually becomes bitter at drawing a weekly paycheck from his best friend, who joins a union and begins antagonizing his best friend about labor laws, and whose insecurity in life shows clearly -- after all, the job isn't glamorous by any means, and of course, the reality of it is far removed from his dreams, we should imagine. The tension grows between the two. Set in Ireland during a World Cup Finals competition in soccer, this film gives us an intimate, grungy peek at the everyday realities of the poor in Ireland. It's "grand" to venture forth and set up one's own business and get off the dole, but of course, things are unlikely to run smoothly.