Netflix pick of the week: The Ref
There are certain Christmas programs that you kind of have to watch. A Charlie Brown Christmas for example, Rudolph (though that’s getting easier and easier to skip as I get older and animation gets cooler), of course the Ralph Bakshi-esque The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and I gotta admit, I’m a sucker for Cindy Lou-Who’s song in the mail room in the new Jim Carrey version of the Grinch. Come on. Max is the cutest cartoon dog ever, and hardly live-up-to-able, but that dog is pretty cute.
But one Christmas movie I’ve come back to year and year over, is The Ref. It’s not the cheesy family movie that one generally watches. It’s a foul-mouthed, violent, angry Christmas movie, and I’ll be damned if it’s not some of Denis Leary’s finest work. Even if only because I’ve grown attached to this movie like a conjoined twin at Christmastime. I always wanted to be badass enough to blackmail a Military School Captain with racy photos developed in my own darkroom. Or punch out a drunk Santa. That is pretty high on the list too. The main plot is Denis Leary’s a burglar who’s driver leaves him in a New England mansion when an alarm goes off on him on Christmas eve, and he takes a family hostage. Watch this if you are a fan of funny, aren’t horribly offended by the infamous F-word, and want to watch a damned funny movie that makes you wish your dysfunctional family came together as well at the holidays as this one. Also, Kevin Spacey in a pre-American Beauty character in a Lester Burnham-type revelatory moment. Come on… just before that pool of red. Man. Anyway. The Ref is the first of the more adult Christmas movies like Bad Santa, and Ice Harvest, and it at very least lives up to their standard, and for my money, is better. Besides,put it at the top of your queue and it doesn’t cost you any money anyway right? Be sure to have some Cinnamon Apple insence burning for this one too. Get real Christmasy.
OK, in case you forgot, I found the little “Where Are You Christmas” part of the Grinch. Come on, that’s so sentimentally Christmas you can’t help it. I know I can’t.