On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....
Ten refs a-reffing!
While "The Ref" may not be a traditional Christmas movie, it definitely resonates real life issues that arise and seem to escalate during the holiday season.
A married couple (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) are having marital problems. They are constantly bickering, there is infidelity, their son is feeling the effects of their dysfunctional relationship and they are ready to divorce. Unfortunately, it's Christmas and they have their family coming over to enjoy the holiday.
What's more unfortunate for them is that they cross paths with a burglar (fast talking, hilarious Denis Leary) who takes them hostage while trying to figure out an escape from the town which is thick with police searching for him. In the meantime, the burglar is playing referee to the couple as they cannot seem to stop arguing about everything and anything.
Just when the burglar believes his patience cannot wear any thinner, the rest of the family show up and prove to be as dysfunctional as the couple!
Now posing as the couple's therapist, the burglar must try to survive the family while trying to find a way out of town before he's driven to insanity!
My Rating:
3.57298234 out of 5 Christmas Trees
The comedy of this flick is all in the dialogue. When you have two TREMENDOUS improv actors like Spacey and Leary, you let them do what they do best in order to make one fantastic moment after another: you let them talk.
Dennis Leary is great in this role and although this movie came out almost twenty years ago, his comedy is still relevant today! You take any movie where he's played even a minor role and you'll remember he was there simply because of the legendary stand up comedian's extensive vocabulary. He made an uninteresting character important in "Demolition Man", he made you believe he could be evil in "Judgement Night" and he made you feel for him in "The Amazing Spider-Man".
I definitely recommend "The Ref" to admirers of dialogue, comedy and Christmas!
Thank you for reading and making this the success it is! If there are any movies you'd like to see reviewed, feel free to email me at jayreviewsfilms@gmail.com.
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Jay
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