The Ref (1994)

"Gus" (Denis Leary) is a cat burglar who accidentally trips an alarm in a house he is attempting to rob and is forced to evade the police on foot because his partner "Murray" (Richard Bright) has panicked and driven off in the escape car. He then decides to kidnap a married couple by the names of "Lloyd" (Kevin Spacey) and "Caroline" (Judy Davis) in order to hide out in their home long enough for him formulate a plan to get away. Unfortunately, the couple he kidnaps have all kinds of marital issues which he inevitably gets caught up in. If that wasn't bad enough, some dysfunctional relatives appear at the house which creates even more turmoil for him just as the police slowly begin to close in. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay comedy which was greatly hampered by the vulgar language throughout the course of the movie. Be that as it may, while I personally didn't think the comedy was anything special, the movie itself was still adequate enough for the time spent. That said, viewers who might enjoy a comedy of this type may want to check it out. In any case, I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Now this is a blast from the past, well the early 90's. Back in the days when Leary was a smokin' hot comedian but not much of a movie star and Spacey wasn't that much of a movie star either!. One of those films yous saw in the videoshop amongst the other comedies but never rented because you didn't really know who the actors were, and you'd never heard of the film, maybe that's just me.The plot isn't rocket science but it is genius. Its Christmas and a robber is on the run, so he kidnaps a middle aged married couple, taking them back to their house. Little does the robber know these two lovebirds are having a bit of a marital spat and are at each others throats. To top that the whole family are on the way for Xmas Eve dinner so Leary's robber must try to control the happy couple whilst dealing with a group of nosy pestering family members.It really does sound like the next perfect National Lampoon caper for Chevy Chase, the whole film is very much like 'Christmas Vacation' accept this is more for adults. Its all very obvious really, naturally Leary uses his quickfire motormouth wit to spearhead much of the comedy and cruel attacks against various family members. Spacey's character is soft spoken but with a sharp tongue whilst Davis' character beautifully grows from calm and collected to spiteful rude and loud with her verbal assaults as she slowly gets more drunk.The main attacks fly in the direction of Spacey's mother played in a very stuffy way by the stout Glynis Johns. Of course the old mother character has money so the family normally suck up to her constantly, but this all breaks down slowly as the evening progresses which leads to some very funny moments. You can count on Leary to lose his rag in a monumental fashion with everyone as the heat builds and his window to escape slowly closes. Quite simply the film plays on the common much used comedic factors of our own relations, something that every family in the world can probably relate to. The old mother who is gruff with little tact and heavily controls one son too much. That son being downtrodden weak and always overruled by his wife who clearly wears the pants in the relationship. The other son not liking his brothers wife (his sister-in-law) because she has his brother whipped. The old mother not liking either sons wives and the wives not liking her (the mother-in-law) either. Caught in the middle are the kids who watch with glee as their parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents swear and curse at each other.All the characters are very clichéd no doubt, all the usual family stereotypes are drained of every last drop of predictable comedy completely. But it works brilliantly, watching the grown ups verbally abuse each other whilst trying to hold it together for the kids and for Christmas is hilarious. Tiptoeing around delicate issues and then bringing them up deliberately to cause an outburst, it makes you laugh it makes you cringe. Then to add to that you have Leary going nuts trying to keep everything civil whilst trying not to break his cover and trying not get caught by the old bill. The fact Leary acts as the marriage counselor for Spacey and Davis really cranks up the laughs when he verbally jousts against the mother and sister-in-law.This is one of those perfect anti-Christmas flicks that's perfect for Christmas. All the performances are really very good bringing the film to life and making the story so compelling. Its a completely character driven plot with no fancy set pieces or effects or crazy stunts, its all about the dialog. Yeah you know it will have a happy ending and you kinda know how it will pan out as your watching, but its still a dark razor sharp witty pleasure.7/10

This film falls at the first hurdle for me. It isn't funny at all. I was going to switch it off after 20 minutes but decided to give it another ten in the faint hope of a laugh. It's clearly supposed to be funny but just isn't. The basic premise is that a burglar falls through a trapdoor which is part of the security system of a house he is burgling. The next thing we know he's in a supermarket sticking a gun in the back of a hostage. How he got out and why he wants to take a hostage isn't explained. I'm prepared to suspend reality for films , particularly comedies but this just doesn't make any sense. What relevance has the Police Chief saying that his cops are useless? Maybe that's supposed to be a funny bit. The ingredients are there for a comedy, i.e. gunman taking very argumentative family hostage - but he doesn't need to be there, He could walk away at any time. My advice would be - don't waste your time.

Dennis Leary stars as a criminal who decides to hold a dysfunctional family hostage in The Ref. The Ref is one of the better Christmas comedies. It has many laugh out loud moments. It's a lot of fun seeing Dennis Leary, Kevin Spacey, and Judy Davis argue for an hour and a half. The Ref is the story of a criminal(played excellently by Dennis Leary) who decides to hold a rich couple(played by Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis), who are going through problems, and their family hostage on Christmas Eve. The criminal goes through a tough time too. He has to suffer with the most dysfunctional family alive.It's a lot of fun watching this movie. Watching Spacey and Davis argue the whole time is really funny. A lot of the scenes with the family are hilarious. I like all of the main celebrities in this film. I don't like them. I love them. That is part of the reason why I loved this film. Forget films like Four Christmases or The Polar express, and look for The Ref on DVD.