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The Ref (DVD)

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The Ref (DVD)

Quote-start

"THE REF" WHY CHANGE THE TITLE?

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5 Sep 20th, 2005 

27 Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful

Advantages:
Very funny / very cheap to buy

Disadvantages:
Wot no special features

Recommendable Yes:

Detailed rating:

Did you enjoy it?

Story

Characters / Performances

Special Effects

How does it compare to similar films?

coleecip

coleecip

About me:

That's it - Time to go - I've had a blast, but this is the end - search the internet and I'm sure yo...

Member since:15.07.2000

Reviews:123

Members who trust:35

Once there was film called "Hostile Hostages" starring Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary and some other woman whose name I can't remember from any other film and this film was hilarious. Then due some overwhelming terrorist incident in 2001 the name was changed to avoid offending stupid people because as we all know stupid people are offended by seeing a word and cannot find the time to understand the context as their satisficing nature prevents it.

Still the film became known as "The Ref" for no apparent reason.
There are no footballs, no field of dreams and no whistles to be seen, but anyway back to the review:

This film is very very funny. Denis Leary is in full stand-up mode and Kevin Spacey is in even better form than he was later in American Beauty as a cynically spiteful husband. Why this film is funny is because it is non-stop - the hostage taker (Denis Leary) trying to remain in control of a hostage situation, but the husband and wife continuously argue amongst themselves. Then in true comedy style things get worse as more people try to arrive at the house.

Anyway I do not tell the story in my reviews - if you don't know who Denis Leary is - he started with stand-up comedy and is a VERY angry comedian (and very clever too!!). Although the film is set at Christmas and as the cinematic look of "Home Alone" it is a nice honest film about an honest, yet disfunctional family.
I find the script intelligent in places (because Denis Leary wrote his parts!!) and contains great anwers to pretentious kids who feel they have a hard life. It also contains great lines from Kevin Spacey as he attempts to break free from his over-bearing mother (who is incidently the mother in Mary Poppins).


That is pretty much all you need to know except be prepared for no special features at all which is a shame and before I get heckled Mongolian subtitles, Swahili dubbing and a scene selection are not special features.

So you have to buy it - it costs about £5.99 and that and end to it.
 

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Comments about this review »

torr 04.10.2005 14:57

No Mongolian subtitles? I don't think I'll bother then! Odd about the title change - one wonders what point they thought they were making. Duncan

cabsookie 22.09.2005 16:23

good review, im going to look out for it. caz. xx

matsu65 20.09.2005 14:14

Great review..Mike

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The Ref (aka Hostile Hostages) [DVD]

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