Movies like The Ref (1994)
The best movies like The Ref (1994) are Bad Santa (2003), Trapped in Paradise (1994) and Fatman (2020). If The Ref hooked you with its comedy and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIn Bruges (2008)7.5/10 from 6,079 votes
- NewestBad Tidings (2024)Released 2024
Bad Santa (2003)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrapped in Paradise (1994)
Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisFatman (2020)
A rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus is fighting to save his declining business. Meanwhile, Billy, a neglected and precocious 12 year old, hires a hit man to kill Santa after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Tidings (2024)
Grumpy home-security expert Neil feuds with his neighbour Scott, who insists on keeping his Christmas lights illuminated all year round. Their tit-for-tat argument culminates in Neil triggering a power cut across the entire street on Christmas Eve. But when the local crime family decide to rob every house on the street that night, the pair must set aside their differences to defeat them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Bad Santa 2 (2016)
Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie Soke teams up with his angry little sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve. Along for the ride is chubby and cheery Thurman Merman, a 250-pound ray of sunshine who brings out Willie's sliver of humanity. Issues arise when the pair are joined by Willie's horror story of a mother, who raises the bar for the gang's ambitions, while somehow lowering the standards of criminal behavior.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisNational Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
It's Christmastime, and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration. But things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMixed Nuts (1994)
The events of a crisis hotline business on one crazy night during the Christmas holidays.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisParenthood (1989)
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery (2022)
A holiday-hating detective is forced to solve a murder — and save Christmas — with help from famous trainees who must improv their way through the case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ice Harvest (2005)
A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBattle of the Bulbs (2010)
Bob and Stu are former best friends who still hold a grudge from an argument they had when they were teenagers. Now, they hope to settle the score with a different kind of competition: who can out-bulb the other in their town’s annual Christmas decorating contest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Scrooged (1988)
Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life. But after firing a staff member on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFour Christmases (2008)
Brad and Kate have made something of an art form out of avoiding their families during the holidays, but this year their foolproof plan is about go bust -- big time. Stuck at the city airport after all departing flights are canceled, the couple is embarrassed to see their ruse exposed to the world by an overzealous television reporter. Now, Brad and Kate are left with precious little choice other than to swallow their pride and suffer the rounds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Big White (2005)
To remedy his financial problems, a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse, which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Camino Christmas (2017)
A young man seeking a father he has never met, through no fault of his own, ends up barricaded in a liquor store with five other people on Christmas Eve in the fictitious town of El Camino, NV.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisHome for the Holidays (1995)
After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson faces spending the holiday with her unhinged family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas with the Kranks (2004)
When their only daughter Blair leaves the family nest, Luther and Nora Krank decide to book an island cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip the holidays. But their decision to boycott tradition has the whole neighborhood in an uproar, and when Blair calls on Christmas Eve to announce a surprise visit with her new fiancée, the Kranks have just twelve hours to perform a miracle and pull themselves and their neighbors together to throw the best celebration ever!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCadillac Man (1990)
Joe's a car salesman with a problem—he has two days to sell 12 cars or he loses his job. This would be a difficult task at the best of times but Joe has to contend with his girlfriends (he's two-timing), a missing teenage daughter and an ex-wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOffice Christmas Party (2016)
When Carol Vanstone, CEO of the technology company Zenotek, expresses her intention to close the Chicago branch, run by her brother Clay, he and his co-workers organize a Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client and save their jobs. But the party gets out of control…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Hebrew Hammer (2003)
When a psychotic Santa tries to destroy Chanukah by hypnotizing Jewish children with bootlegged copies of the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life," it's up to the Hebrew Hammer to save the day. Together with Mohammed, head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front, the Hammer takes no prisoners in his quest to hunt down the renegade Santa and make the holiday season safe for all.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisRaising Arizona (1987)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRuthless People (1986)
Sam Stone hates his wife Barbara so much that he wants her dead. He's ecstatic when she's taken by a duo of kidnappers who want $500,000 ransom in exchange for her life. Fully intending to ignore every one of the kidnappers' demands in the hopes that they do him a favor and murder her for him, the two confused kidnappers have to figure out how they're going get their money, and what they're going to do with the overbearing Barbara.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFred Claus (2007)
Fred Claus and Santa Claus have been estranged brothers for many years. Now Fred must reconcile his differences with his brother whom he believes overshadows him. When an efficiency expert assesses the workings at the North Pole and threatens to shut Santa down, Fred must help his brother to save Christmas.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn Bruges (2008)
Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ken, it is not what he expected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Fish Called Wanda (1988)
While a diamond advocate attempts to steal a collection of diamonds, troubles arise when he realises he’s not the only one after the collection.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night Before (2015)
In New York City for their annual tradition of Christmas Eve debauchery, three lifelong best friends set out to find the Holy Grail of Christmas parties since their yearly reunion might be coming to an end.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Love You to Death (1990)
Joey Boca is the owner of a pizza parlour, and has been married to Rosalie for years. When Rosalie discovers that Joey is a womanizer and has been cheating on her for a long time, she goes to extreme lengths to punish him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadea's Witness Protection (2012)
For years, mild-mannered Wall Street banker George Needleman has meandered through life oblivious to his family's dysfunction and his company's malfeasance, but he's forced to wake up when he learns that he's been framed in a mob-backed Ponzi scheme. Placed under federal protection, George and his family are shipped down South to Madea's house, where the no-nonsense matriarch whips them all into shape using her special brand of tough love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Night (1998)
Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreedy (1994)
Meet the McTeagues. They've come to stake a claim in their wealthy uncle's will… only he's not dead yet!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ref?
The closest matches to The Ref are Bad Santa (2003), Trapped in Paradise (1994) and Fatman (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ref?
People who watched The Ref most often go on to Bad Santa (2003), Trapped in Paradise (1994) and Fatman (2020).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ref?
In Bruges (2008), rated 7.5/10 by 6,079 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ref?
Bad Tidings (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Ref?
Yes: Bad Santa (2003), Trapped in Paradise (1994) and Fatman (2020).
How are movies similar to The Ref chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ref, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.