
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 19, 1994                   TAG: 9403190059
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`THE REF' IS AN INSULT -LITERALLY

Think of the most irritating couple you know - two self-absorbed, argumentative, unpleasant people whose company you loathe. What would it be like to be forced to spend several hours in close contact with them?

That's the unfortunate premise of "The Ref," a comic drama with few laughs and a cast of uniformly unsympathetic characters. Any one of them would be enough to damage a normal movie; the dozen or so on screen here add up to cinematic overkill.

It's Christmas in Connecticut where Gus (Denis Leary) has just botched a safe-cracking job. All the local cops are after him, but Caroline (Judy Davis) and Lloyd (Kevin Spacey) are so busy bickering with their marriage counselor and with each other that they haven't heard the news. Gus picks the wrong folks to kidnap and hold hostage in their home until his drunken partner can arrange an escape.

Meanwhile, Caroline and Lloyd's son (Robert J. Steinmiller, Jr.) is blackmailing the head of his military school, and Lloyd's shrewish mother (Glynis Johns) and in-laws are on their way for Christmas dinner.

Apparently, writers Marie Weiss and Richard LaGravenese meant for this to be sharp black humor. It's not. It's simply annoying, and the longer it goes on, the more annoying it gets. There's also a nasty, often gratuitous smuttiness to the humor. That might be unremarkable in many contemporary comedies, but this is a product of the Disney organization.

Unlike many directors who come to features from rock videos, first-timer Ted Demme demonstrates no feel for visuals, and he lets the action plod along at a lazy pace. A lot of directors could have done all that needed to be done with this thin story in 45 minutes.

To be fair, there are moments when the film comes to life, and fans of Leary's confrontational routines won't be disappointed by his performance. For the most part though, "The Ref" is little more than people screaming insults and obscenities at each other. That's entertainment?i

The Ref *

A Touchstone release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 95 min. Rated R for language, sexual humor.

by CNB