56. The Ref

Ted Demme’s first underrated masterpiece (his second being Beautiful Girls), The Ref tells the story of a cat burglar (Dennis Leary) who takes a bickering suburban couple hostage and ends up being the referee to a series of arguments between the two, as well as the family that arrives for dinner and thinks he’s their shrink.

In a brilliant marketing maneuver, the folks at Touchstone Pictures decided this dark comedy that takes place on Christmas Eve should be released in spring of 1994, thereby guaranteeing it an audience of about fifteen. Furthermore, with the poster and video box they decided not to allude to its Christmas theme at all, which meant that when the next few Christmases would roll around, folks looking for an alternative to It’s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story or Silent Night, Deadly Night would bypass this title completely, thereby guaranteeing it a yearly non-tradition.  

Except in my house. Since 1994, I have watched The Ref every year. It has become my Charlie Brown Christmas, my Rudolph. The season doesn’t feel complete without it. The movie’s bitterness toward the holidays, Leary’s maniacal performance, Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis’s whip-smart and nasty shouting matches all sound like “Jingle Bells” to me. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese carries his trademark of sharp humor and deep wisdom without coming off false or over-written.  It would make a great play and I know people who have attempted to write one.

Apparently, the entire Academy must have completely skipped this movie as well, seeing as how they gave Kevin Spacey an Oscar for turning in the same performance in American Beauty as he does here. But, hey, he’s good at it, right? Yes, but Judy Davis is even better. (Collin Souter)