
The Ref
A cat burglar is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve.
Movies Like The Ref
Similar in style, tone, and themes — find your next watch.

Raising Arizona
1987★ 7.1
When a childless couple—an ex-con and an ex-cop—take one of a wealthy family’s quintuplets to raise as their own, their lives grow more complicated than anticipated.

'R Xmas
2001★ 6.2
A New York drug dealer is kidnapped, and his wife must try to come up with the money and drugs to free him from his abductors before Christmas.

Fargo
1996★ 7.8
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!

Silent Night
2023★ 6.1
A tormented father witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang's crossfire on Christmas Eve. While recovering from a wound that costs him his voice, he makes vengeance his life's mission and embarks on a punishing training regimen in order to avenge his son's death.

Panic Room
2002★ 6.8
Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham, Raoul and Junior - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.

Bad Santa
2003★ 6.6
You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.

Bottle Rocket
1996★ 6.7
Upon his release from a mental hospital following a nervous breakdown, the directionless Anthony joins his friend Dignan, who seems far less sane than the former. Dignan has hatched a harebrained scheme for an as-yet-unspecified crime spree that somehow involves his former boss, the (supposedly) legendary Mr. Henry.

The Place Beyond the Pines
2013★ 7.0
A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.

The Drop
2014★ 6.8
Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.

Havoc
2025★ 6.4
When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.

Thin Ice
2012★ 6.5
A dishonest insurance salesman's life quickly disintegrates during a Wisconsin winter when he teams up with a psychopath to steal a rare violin at the home of a reclusive farmer.

Affliction
1998★ 6.3
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally.

Butterfly on a Wheel
2007★ 6.4
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.

Guns Up
2025★ 6.5
When a job goes horribly wrong, an ex-cop and family man who moonlights as a mob henchman has one night to get his family out of the city.

Violent Ends
2025★ 6.2
Lucas Frost, an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence, tries to make his own life with his fiancée, Emma. He is suddenly pulled back into the family business he so despises when his cousin, Eli, perpetrates an armed robbery on a local scrap yard and an innocent life is caught in the crossfire.

The Thin Man
1934★ 7.5
A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005★ 7.2
A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role...

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2007★ 7.1
When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that send them and their family hurtling towards a shattering climax.

Deadfall
2012★ 6.0
A thriller that follows two siblings who decide to fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist, and their unlikely reunion during another family's Thanksgiving celebration.

Dead Man's Wire
2026★ 6.5
In 1977, former real estate developer Tony Kiritsis puts a dead man's switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.