In Ted Demme‘s 1994 comedy The Ref, we learn bad guys need to screen their hostages better.

Denis Leary was working a big score on Christmas Eve when he tripped an alarm he hadn’t scouted. In a desperate attempt to avoid the roadblocks and patrolling police and troopers, he takes a bickering couple hostage. Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis love to hate each other. They just can’t grasp the concept of shutting up when a man in black has a gun pointed at their heads. The holiday scene gets more complicated and more prickly as family arrives to celebrate.

Glynis Johns is the mother/grandmother from Hell. She nearly steals this movie. This film is a great example of timing, pauses, and casting. You’ll be glad for your Uncle John after hearing this family fight over food, guns, and slipper socks.