The Ref

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The Ref
Directed by Ted Demme
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Don Simpson
Written by Richard LaGravenese
Marie Weiss
Starring Denis Leary
Judy Davis
Kevin Spacey
Donna Holgate
Music by David A. Stewart
Cinematography Adam Kimmel
Editing by Jeffrey Wolf
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) March 9, 1994
Running time 93 min
Language English
Budget $11,000,000 (U.S.)
IMDb profile

The Ref (Hostile Hostages in some countries) is a 1994 black comedy film, directed by the late Ted Demme.

Contents

[edit] Premise

The movie opens with Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur in marriage counseling on Christmas Eve, the session does not go well and we quickly learn of their problems. Caroline has had an affair and Lloyd is miserable and blames the problems with their son Jesse on his wife.

The movie switches to a criminal named Gus (Leary) having broken into a house and is stealing jewelry from the safe; however, he accidentally sets off the alarm, a trap door opens and he lands in the basement. He is able to get away but his getaway car driven by his partner Murray is no longer there.

While Caroline is in the market Gus spots her and with a gun to her back orders her to take him to her car. He then proceeds to order both her and Lloyd to take him to their house. Along the way the couple continues to argue with Gus beginning to act as a referee to make them shut up.

Back at the house things continue to get worse as the police have set up roadblocks and there is a reward out for Gus and with Lloyd and Caroline frequently arguing, their neighbor dressed as Santa stopping by, and two idiotic police going door to door looking for Gus. Gus gets a hold of Murray who is at local bar and orders him to steal them a boat. Soon Jesse comes home and discovers his parents tied up and after breaking lose of his own restraints makes a failed attempt at making Gus release his parents.

Lloyd’s family, consisting of Lloyd’s brother Gary, his wife Connie, their two children Mary and John and Lloyd’s mother Rose, are introduced into the story. Rose is extremely wealthy and a very cruel person. Gus seeing no other option decides to pretend to be Lloyd’s and Caroline’s marriage counselor as he cannot hold everyone hostage. Jesse, however, is tied up upstairs in his parent’s closet.

Things come to head when Caroline and Lloyd are unable to stop fighting, with Lloyd finally having enough stamina to stand up to his wife and to his mother. Everyone finds out who Gus really is when after the doorbell rings and Rose attempts to go upstairs and stops her by pointing a gun to her head and orders everyone to the den. The man at the door is Jesse’s commander from military school whom he has been blackmailing and tells his parents.

Jesse has managed to untie himself, and is discovered with his hidden money, when the doorbell rings again his mom tells him to stay there. When Lloyd, Caroline, and Gus get back downstairs the neighbor from earlier has entered their house and is very drunk and lunges at Gus who knocks him out.

The state police arrive and Lloyd tells Jesse to take Gus to the docks using the path through the woods. Gus steals the Santa suit and makes it safely to the docks and escapes. Back at home the couple have managed to get the police out of their home with their bickering and they make up and plan to stay together. Tagline: He's taken them hostage. They're driving him nuts. "If you only see one Christmas movie this July"

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Two actors that were regulars in the series Oz appeared in the film. J.K. Simmons played the commander of Jesse's military school and B.D. Wong played a marriage counselor.
  • This was the first collaboration of many to come between Jerry Bruckheimer and The Walt Disney Company.
  • This movie was set in a town called Old Baybrook. A take off of Old Saybrook, a small town in Connecticut, right down to the old green lighthouse lights that the police cars had atop of their siren array.

[edit] External links