The Ref (1994)
The Cast
Denis Leary .... Gus
Judy Davis .... Caroline Chasseur
Kevin Spacey .... Lloyd Chasseur
Robert J. Steinmiller Jr. .... Jesse Chasseur
Glynis Johns .... Rose Chasseur
Raymond J. Barry .... Lt. Huff
Richard Bright .... Murray, Gus' Driver
Christine Baranski .... Connie Chasseur
Adam LeFevre .... Gary Chasseur
Phillip Nicoll .... John Chasseur
Ellie Raab .... Mary Chasseur
J.K. Simmons .... Commandant Siskel
Directed by the late Ted Demme (he apparently died of an "accidental cocaine induced thrombotic heart attack" in 2002), The Ref is - to my knowledge - the Christmas movie with the most amount of f-bombs dropped in it. Surprisingly though, it has more heart to it than most of the traditional holiday dreck people trudge through on a yearly basis, filling their fat holiday faces with chestnuts & fruitcake & candy canes... Anyways, when this movie came out, Denis Leary was kinda at the height of his mainstream popularity, & Kevin Spacey was a newish leading man face to the general public.
Now, despite my fading respect for Denis Leary's standup material (he's pretty much a thief; see Hicks, Bill & figure it out for yourself) his caustic performances are usually enough to cheer me outta any funk. His performance as a cat burglar stuck in a small, cheesy mountain town on Christmas Eve is all about measured intensity. Demme & Leary go way back, so Demme knows exactly what Leary's strengths as an actor are & brings them out in every scene.
The supporting cast is comprised of hostages that Gus (Leary) takes because of a burglary blunder that results in a curfew enforced by the town's police. Other than Lt. Huff (Barry), the police are comprised of Leary's idiot friends & various hangers-on in real life, which pretty much makes up the only weak spot in the movie. I don't care how small of a town it is, people that stupid are not handed badges, even in a satire of police stupidity.
The Chasseur family Christmas that Gus interrupts is fraught with drama & spineless men & women who refuse to stand up to their rich bitch matriarch, Rose Chasseur (Johns). Lloyd (Spacey) & Caroline (Davis) are in marriage counselling that apparently will never take because they simply function better as an abrasive couple. Their son Jesse (Steinmiller) is coming home from military school, sent there because of his criminalistic behavior when he's living at home. The other half of the Chasseur family is comprised of the kiss-ass greedy family side, which involves many family feud cliches but is still performed greatly.
The Ref is pretty much my favourite Christmas movie to watch, because despite all of it's cussing & family dysfunction, the heart of it lies with bringing the family back together. Gus may be one of the world's best burglars, but he could also excel in the field of counselling, with his brash pull-no-punches delivery. Muchos gracias goes out to fischyference19 for picking this up for me last year off my Amazon Wishlist. Man, that was shameless. Anyways, as a Christmas movie it hits all the right notes without coming across as holier-than-thou, so 5 outta 5. There's a few weak characters that are just in the movie because of Hollywood friendships & it doesn't really harm the movie, but it takes you out of it a little.
4.5 outta 5