The Ref

It is Christmas Eve and troubled married couple, Lloyd (Kevin Spacey) and Caroline (Judy Davis), have problems:  they are constantly bickering despite seeing a marriage counsellor; they have a delinquent son, Jesse; and they owe Lloyd’s bitch-of-a-mother a large sum of money. Enter Ted (Denis Leary), a cat burglar on the run who takes them captive without knowing what he is getting himself into.

Directed by the late Ted Demme (d. 2002, aged 38, his last feature being Blow), his first high-profile feature isn’t without its flaws. The soundtrack is hopelessly dated, the motivations sometimes implausible and the feel-good ending completely undoes the blackish humour that had gone before. But it is still an enjoyable and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

Denis Leary balances caustic wit and genuine sympathy as Ted the cat burglar who tells it as it is, Judy Davis is excellent as the neurotic wife who hates her life and Kevin Spacey’s performance as her meek husband is a preview for his Oscar™ winning performance in American Beauty. A treat for older members of the audience is the presence of Glynis Johns, a stalwart of post-war British cinema, in the role of Spacey's overbearing mother.

 

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