Ref for Madness

Perhaps I should have saved it until closer to Christmas, given the time setting, but I recently watched the dark comedy The Ref. Denis Leary stars as thief who winds up taking a couple hostage after a botched home invasion. But the acrimonious couple (Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey) is on the verge of a divorce and can't stop bickering. Hilarity ensues.

Well... mostly. There are moments that the movie is fairly funny, but it's more often the "polite smile" kind of funny, rather than the "laugh out loud" kind of funny. Part of this stems from the movie never actually getting that outrageous. There's something about The Ref that feels less like a film, and more like an episode of a TV show.

But film or episode, it does have a pretty good cast. Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis both manage to breathe a lot of life into the narrow comic premise of the bickering couple; it would easily have been flat and, by the end of the movie, stale in lesser hands, but they go the distance. And Denis Leary is likeably unlikeable as the burglar. Christine Baranski also has a couple of good moments in a minor role.

So overall, I'd say it's worth it... assuming you're in the mood for a caustic comedy peppered with salty language. I rate it a B-.