Customer Reviews
A very funny movie - By: Kurt A. Johnson, 14 Jul 2005 
Barely escaping from his botched burglary of a fancy house, Gus (played by Denis Leary) quickly finds a place to hideout from the police. Kidnapping the Chasseurs (Judy Davis & Kevin Spacey) at gunpoint, he starts making plans. But, this is no quiet haven for Gus, the Chasseurs are on the brink of divorce & are at each other's throats, & Gus quickly finds himself playing referee. Can Gus find away to escape the police dragnet & get cleanly away? Or, will the Chasseurs drive him totally insane! [Color, releasedin 1994, with a running time of 1:33.]
Overall, I found this a very funny movie. Judy Davis & Kevin Spacey bounce off each other hilariously, & I loved seeing Glynis Johns again (she still has it!). Now, while there is no sex or violencein this movie, it earned an R rating due to language. Indeed, it sometimes seems like the F-word appears as every fifth wordin the dialogue!
But, that said, I did find this a funny & highly entertaining movie. If you want to see a movie with a lot of good acting, & tons of caustic wit, then this is the movie for you.
My favourite film of all time - By: , 05 Jul 2005 
I've only known this as Hostile Hostages & rented it years ago & I was hooked. All the acting is fantastic, it is incredibly well scripted. Dennis Leary is just phenomenaly funny as are Judy & Kevinin their role as a quarrelling couple. I can't recomend this enough!! It is my favourite film of all time... believe me its absolutely fantastic!!!
The Ref - By: Rich Milligan, 16 Jun 2005 "The Ref" or "Hostile Hostages" as it is sometimes know by its other title, is one of theose hidden gems of a film that by far outshines some of the more successful & well known films, & yetin many senses is by far much much better than these.
The plot idea is relatively simple, Denis Leary plays Gus a professional burglar who after a foiled robbery seeks to make good his escape by taking married couple Lloyd & Caroline Chasseur hostage. Lloyd (played by Kevin Spacey) & Caroline (played by Judy Davis) are however going through something of a marriage crisis & poor old Gus ends up as a real piggyin the middle between the two warring factions of this married couple. Addin a delinquent son, a mother-in-law of humongous bitchy proportions & a drunk Santa Claus & let the mayhem begin!
The interplay between Learn, Spacey & Davis is simply fantastic with the machinegun like dialogue whizzing back & forth between them. Likewise the stingingly cruel comments from the mother-in-law from hell are a real hoot, as is the bumbling capers of the town's less than competent police force.
What makes the film work on another level though is that the arguments & disagreements that have the family at each other's throats are not contrived or unbelievable. Both husband & wife put forward extremely credible points of view that I'm sure have cropped upin the minds of most viewers. This gives the film a lovely poignancy & all that more enjoyable.
Don't let this brilliant little film pass you by!
Never heard of it? No neither had we! What a laugh! - By: , 18 Jan 2005 We got this film out cos we love Kevin Spacey! What a great film - fast, sassy & slick. Great storyline which forty somethings & teens enjoyed together so makes a good family film if you've got older "children". Hilarious! Enjoy! :o)
Verbal jousting, smelly criminals, Xmas, it's all here!! - By: G. Roberts, 26 Nov 2004 With every actors performance isin this, no-one goes over & above what each Charactor is worth, & the film is better for it. Several Belly-laughs give peaks to this at the right times, & the pace nevers falls below breath-catching level.
Quality all round. I Just can't find it on DVD anywhere... One time when buying a video is a necessity!
