VHS : Hostile Hostages [1994]

Rating: - A very funny movie
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 and are at each other's throats, and Gus quickly finds himself playing referee. Can Gus find away to escape the police dragnet and get cleanly away? Or, will the Chasseurs drive him totally insane! [Color, released in 1994, with a running time of 1:33.]

Overall, I found this a very funny movie. Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey bounce off each other hilariously, and I loved seeing Glynis Johns again (she still has it!). Now, while there is no sex or violence in this movie, it earned an R rating due to language. Indeed, it sometimes seems like the F-word appears as every fifth word in the dialogue!

But, that said, I did find this a funny and highly entertaining movie. If you want to see a movie with a lot of good acting, and tons of caustic wit, then this is the movie for you.

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Rating: - My favourite film of all time
I've only known this as Hostile Hostages and rented it years ago and I was hooked. All the acting is fantastic, it is incredibly well scripted. Dennis Leary is just phenomenaly funny as are Judy and Kevin in 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!!!

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Rating: - The Ref
"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 and well known films, and yet in 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 and Caroline Chasseur hostage. Lloyd (played by Kevin Spacey) and Caroline (played by Judy Davis) are however going through something of a marriage crisis and poor old Gus ends up as a real piggy in the middle between the two warring factions of this married couple. Add in a delinquent son, a mother-in-law of humongous bitchy proportions and a drunk Santa Claus and let the mayhem begin!

The interplay between Learn, Spacey and Davis is simply fantastic with the machinegun like dialogue whizzing back and 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 and disagreements that have the family at each other's throats are not contrived or unbelievable. Both husband and wife put forward extremely credible points of view that I'm sure have cropped up in the minds of most viewers. This gives the film a lovely poignancy and all that more enjoyable.

Don't let this brilliant little film pass you by!

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Rating: - Never heard of it? No neither had we! What a laugh!
We got this film out cos we love Kevin Spacey! What a great film - fast, sassy and slick. Great storyline which forty somethings and teens enjoyed together so makes a good family film if you've got older "children". Hilarious! Enjoy! :o)

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Rating: - Verbal jousting, smelly criminals, Xmas, it's all here!!
With every actors performance is in this, no-one goes over and above what each Charactor is worth, and the film is better for it. Several Belly-laughs give peaks to this at the right times, and 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!