The Ref

Yesterday was Saint Lucia's Day, which is something my family has never paid attention to before, but we still celebrated last night by watch The Ref. This makes sense because, while The Ref is a Christmas movie, they still mention St. Lucia and wear the candle crown. The Ref is a 1994 movie directed by Ted Demme and starring Denis Leary, Kevin Spacey, and Judy Davis.

The Ref features the married couple Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur (Keven Spacey and Judy Davis) as they not only have to deal with a falling apart marriage, a delinquent son, and family coming over, but they are also taken hostage by the cat burglar Gus (Denis Leary). Gus is also having a bad night, as what was supposed to be a very simple and incredibly lucrative bit of thieving turned into a town-wide man hunt, and now he has to deal with a couple who have more issues than he ever wanted to deal with. It all turns out okay, though.

This movie does not have any redeemable characters. They are all terrible people. Gus, who is a criminal and spends a good portion of the film tying people up and pointing guns at them, is perhaps the least terrible, because at least he admits that he's bad. Everyone else thinks that they're paragons of virtue and always right. Except maybe the delinquent son Jesse (Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.), who is probably aware that blackmailing people is wrong.

There is a whole lot of alcohol in this movie. From the main couple

To authority figures

Even Santa Claus gets in on the drinking action

Thus proving that the real meaning of Christmas is to drink yourself silly.

Okay, so, everyone in this movie is completely miserable. They hate their lives and wish that they had some sort of out. Jesse goes so far as to want to run away and start a life of crime, which he already has a head start on. Caroline wants to get a divorce to escape the life she's leading. Things don't change until Lloyd finally gets a back bone and embraces his inner jerk. He tells off everyone at his party (except Gus, because Gus still isn't lying about who he is) and tells his mother what a terrible person she is.

Her portrait is dominating the room, but that's okay, because he's finally taking a stand for himself. Lloyd, Caroline, Jesse finally become a happy family after Lloyd agrees to help Gus escape police detection, making them accessories to a crime. Thus, the moral of the story is that once you've embraced your inner jerk, you'll finally be comfortable with who you are.

I have to wonder what this movie has against food. Lloyd and Caroline's restaurant failed because of a bad review they got in a high scale food magazine. Gus spits out food no less than three times in the entire movie. Nothing tastes good here. The only bit of decent eating in the whole thing is the meal that their family eats at a nondescript restaurant they stop at before arriving for Christmas dinner because they know how bad it's going to be. Caroline and Lloyd's toxic relationship poisons all the food in their house, even the fruitcake they received as a gift (though that could be an early indication that Santa isn't exactly saintly).

In conclusion, a gratuitous shot of Denis Leary in a suit: