|
Year
: 1994
Director:
Ted Demme
Starring:
Dennis Leary, Kevin Spacey,
Judy Davis . |
The Ref
Bickering,
arguing, loathing - yeah sounds pretty much like
a normal Christmas to me.
It's
Christmas. The story begins with Gus, a cat burglar,
breaking into a large house. He successfully deactivates
the alarm, locates and picks the safe lock and
begins to empty its contents, when he suddenly
notices an impressive jewel encrusted ring. Unfortunately
the ring is actually a decoy alarm and sets off
the security systems and Gus has to flee the house.
At a convenience store Gus is forced to take
hostages, unfortunately these are in the shape
of Caroline and Lloyd Chassuer, and Gus mistakenly
makes the Chassuers take him to their home so that
he can hideout there, and wait for his partner
in crime to organise some getaway transport for
him. Big mistake. Caroline and Lloyd aren't really
getting along, in fact they can barely speak to
each other without some cutting catty remark. Despite
being held at gunpoint in their own homes they
can't stop digging at each other, so much so
in fact that the constant bickering between them
is driving Gus nuts. Then the in laws turn up
for Carolines long planned scandinavian themed
evening and festive dinner, so Gus pretends to
be Caroline and Lloyds (much needed) marriage guidance
counselor. Gus is caught in the middle, can he
escape before he is driven mad by the dysfunctional
extended family?
The
Ref (aka
Hostile Hostages)
is a film that lives and dies on the quality of
its dialogue. The quality of the dialogue
is superb, and very funny, with the acerbic
attacks and retorts between the Married couple,
and the sarcastic exasperated reactions of Gus
constantly ratcheting up the ante (think of an
aggressive, if somewhat lower brow version of Woody
Allen's cinematic arguments and you are heading
off in the right direction). The relevant plot
is pretty limited, and for a very good reason,
as in farce, the tension is forever building up
a head of steam - in this case piling on the agony
on Gus who is being increasingly driven mad by
the bickering and sniping between the married couple.
The Ref is a seriously
underrated and relatively unknown movie ( hindered
perhaps by its more adult based content) but it
certainly deserves a wider audience. Its not everybody's
idea of Christmas, but it certainly partly rings
true to many of us.
The
Ref has
broken its way into the into the place at December
11th on our Christmas
movies guide (USA edition).
Buy
this film and more from our Christmas
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