The Ref (1994)

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"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.

You look at "The Ref" and just know that it was written precisely for Denis Leary. It's just the kind of vehicle tailor-made for a comic with his talents; the man varies between exasperation and rage like nobody's business. And he's the source of most of the comedy herein.But it's not just Leary, who's the unfortunate intermediary for unhappily-married Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis, a duo which is the real comedic heart of this thing. They're perfectly hateful and bitter, fluent in shouting matches and their bickering forms the basis of this viciously dysfunctional (read: very fun) holiday movie. It's the kind of horribly awkward family Christmas gathering you actually want to attend.7/10

Not really sure what the movie was about since I stopped watching at the 4th "f" word. Just don't care to watch movies that can't be funny without filthy language. Thought I would add The Ref to my collection of Christmas movies, but just couldn't bring myself to place it beside A Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Elf, and the many others I have accumulated over the years. After reading the summary of the movie, I thought it would be a fun movie but I respect my family and myself too much to listen to the horrible language. My fault for not reading the rating and the reviews before I purchased the DVD.Too bad it just didn't make the cut.

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.