The Ref (1994)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 10
Undeniably uneven and too dark for some, The Ref nonetheless boasts strong turns from Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey, as well as a sharply funny script.
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 5
Undeniably uneven and too dark for some, The Ref nonetheless boasts strong turns from Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey, as well as a sharply funny script.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 26,046
My Rating
Movie Info
Caroline and Lloyd (Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey) are a married couple constantly at each other's throats, masters at crafting acid-tongued barbs at the other's expense. Indeed, they are so obsessed with belittling each other that they never stop -- not even at gunpoint. Such is the premise of the acerbic comedy The Ref, which shows what happens when this quarrelsome duo is taken hostage. The gunman is Gus (Denis Leary), a thief on the run from the police, who kidnaps the couple as an insurance
Mar 9, 1994 Wide
Mar 4, 2003
Buena Vista Internationa
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Denis Leary
Gus -
Judy Davis
Caroline -
Kevin Spacey
Lloyd -
-
Glynis Johns
Rose -
Raymond J. Barry
Huff -
Richard Bright
Murray -
Rutanya Alda
Linda -
Christine Baranski
Connie -
Tony Craig
State Trooper -
Stephen Hunter
Old Baybrook Policeman -
Charles Kerr
Town Citizen -
Chas Lawther
Santa Family #2 -
Adam Le Fevre
Gary -
Vincent Pastore
State Trooper -
Ellie Raab
Mary -
Jim Turner
Phil -
B.D. Wong
Dr. Wong -
Caroline Yeager
Town Citizen -
Richard Blackburn
Santa Family #1 -
Bill Raymond
George -
Edward Saxon
Reporter -
Kenneth Utt
Jeremiah Willard -
Derek Keurvost
Town Citizen -
Peter Krantz
State Trooper -
Marilyn Stonehouse
Store Cashier -
-
John Benjamin Hickey
Old Baybrook Policeman -
Max Piersig
Cadet -
Cecilley Carroll
Santa Family #1 -
Robert Collins
State Trooper -
Ron Gabriel
Limo Driver -
Robert Ridgely
Bob Burley -
J.K. Simmons
Siskel -
Scott Walker
Prosecutor
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All Critics (42) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (10) | DVD (6)
A foulmouthed sitcom of a film.
Top CriticThe Ref works virtually none of the miracles of [Richard LaGravenese's screenplay for The Fisher King,] his previous mix 'n' match effort.
What makes most of this work is the brio of the acting, though the direction by Ted Demme and the script by Richard LaGravenese and Marie Weiss certainly don't hurt.
In his first starring role, comedian Leary makes his ranting career criminal strangely sympathetic.
Staying clear of any mean-spirited attitudes, The Ref is a film to warm the hearts and touch the nerves of dysfunctional families everywhere.
Demme brings out the comic ease in Leary.
It's cynical, mean-spirited and, at least at first, viciously funny.
The Ref is the one Christmas movie that I can relate to.
[Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey] play this strident high comedy duet with a self-sustaining brio that easily puts them on the level of the stars of Twentieth Century, The Awful Truth, The Philadelphia Story, and His Girl Friday.
Dennis Leary's shining hour. His stand-up persona's greatest moment and it was all down hill from there.
Every holiday movie strives to become a timeless classic. The Ref succeeds.
One of the most underrated comedies of the 1990s
Just because The Ref isn't your typical Christmas movie doesn't mean you should skip it. In fact, it should be just the opposite.
Better in hindsight than it first appeared. Leary truly rises to the challenge of acting opposite Davis and Spacey.
This is a smart witty film- Leary is fantastic, Spacey a blast and Davis brilliant!
Audience Reviews for The Ref
Super Reviewer
As the feuding spouses, Spacey and Davis are perfect. They have a corrosive chemistry together and feed off of their character's biting, ill-spirited, hilarious put-downs and rantings. Denis Leary is also crudely effective as the titular character, tortured by the couple's incessant fighting. The family dinner is another laugh riot, with the actors hitting all the right chords as the stereotypically irritating, obligated-to-visit relatives who have an equally uneven family.
Besides the family hostage story, there are also several other stories that run throughout the movie involving blackmail and a disgruntled neighborhood Santa Claus. Director Ted Demme balances all these storylines, albeit sometimes not very developed ones, and juggles them adequately with the main act.
Ted Demme's direction is also controlled and never lets up, sticking to the scripts incisive arguments and family-haranguing and not reducing this smart, sometimes dark comedy to a typical, brainless holiday flick. The only time he falters is with the ending, of which the last minute could have been cut. Otherwise, this is a very funny, stinging, and unusual Christmas movie that gets more laughs than most Hollywood-packaged, uninspired crowd-pleasers.
Super Reviewer
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- Gus: Great! I just beat up Santa Claus!
-
- Connie: Who would catch criminals and then just let them go?
- Mary: Republicans.
-
- Gus: Let's get one thing straight. From now on, the only person who yells is me. Why? Because I have a gun. People who have guns can do whatever they want. Married people without guns, for instance, you...
- Caroline: Um-hum.
- Lloyd: Um-hum.
- Gus: Do not get to yell. Why? No guns! No guns! No yelling! Simple little equation!
-
- Connie: The spirit of Christmas is either you're good, or you're punished and you burn in hell.
-
- Gus: The army! What the f**k! I am Oswald here.
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