The Holdovers, 2023.
Directed by Alexander Payne.
Starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner, Ian Dolley, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Andrew Garman, Naheem Garcia, Stephen Thorne, Gillian Vigman, Tate Donovan, Bill Mootos, Dustin Tucker, Darby Lee-Stack, Colleen Clinton, and Juanita Pearl.
SYNOPSIS:
A cranky history teacher at a prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a student who has no family plans.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, The Holdovers wouldn’t exist.
A boarding school student abandoned by his parents for the holidays, a crotchety ancient civilizations teacher, and the school cook grieving the loss of her son at the expense of the Vietnam War all venture out into the wintry cold to a party. On the surface, these are three lost and lonely souls, but there might be hope for each in director Alexander Payne’s (and TV screenwriter David Hemingson making his film debut) The Holdovers.
Shot on film presumably to evoke the era and similar look of films from that time, with Eigil Bryld’s somewhat washed-out capturing of the frigid weather matching the loneliness of these characters, The Holdovers does tell a familiar story about bonding in the unlikeliest of places, but executed with laugh-out-loud precision, earned emotional beats, and a trio of outstanding performances from Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, each finding the heart and humor as the script smartly peels back their layers.
Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is the curmudgeon teacher from hell, always loaded with an array of wisecrack retorts for his, mostly failing, students, prepared to put the titular holdovers (children with nowhere to go during the holiday break) to work and give everyone a test on new material (and an old exam allowing the slumping students a chance to raise their semester grade), seemingly because he can. He doesn’t want what he deems to be entitled kids to float their way to success. This is primarily evident when he is punished for refusing to pass a student whose father made humongous financial donations to the school. He is a hard ass but also one with ethics that does appear to want the best for his student.
Nevertheless, it’s understandable that these rebellious brats don’t necessarily see the greater picture. Instead, they make fun of his glass eye and theorize about inappropriate places where he masturbates. The one common thread between the students is that they seem to be unwanted by their families for one reason or another, which has, naturally, rotted their personalities to an extent (especially the sociopathic Teddy Kountze, who doesn’t realize his family is probably lying to him about doing renovations in the winter and being unable to bring him home for Christmas.) Some are still sweet, like a foreign exchange student who genuinely can’t be with his family.
In some finely-tuned convenient plotting, all but one of these boys luck out and end up whisked away into the helicopter of a rich kid’s father, with parental permission to spend the holiday break with them. This leaves behind wise but angsty and disobedient Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose mom and stepfather are preparing for a honeymoon and apparently can’t pick up a telephone. Even worse, he is at the mercy of how much Paul wants to overwork him without granting any semblance of an academic break or attempting to celebrate Christmas.
Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) willingly stays behind as the cook, not ready to return home and celebrate the holidays without her fallen soldier son. While she has a moving arc, Mary also acts as the mediator and voice of reason between Paul and Tully, inching the former to have a little fun here while unafraid to put the letter in his place for being difficult while strong enough mentally not to need their pity. Through quieter dramatic conversations, she proves resourceful at figuring out what is bothering Paul and Tully and how to open them up to connect. From there, laughter ensues from a variety of shenanigans (there are hospital visits, impromptu field trips to Boston, and an effort to show some holiday spirit) with hysterical dialogue, all without losing that gradual touch of expanding who these characters are and how to peel back their layers.
There’s no question that Paul Giamatti is having a blast, whether insulting students, struggling to keep Tully in check, or lashing out elsewhere. Still, he is also strongly attuned to the emotional beats regarding his character’s insecurities, personal failings, and profound sadness; there is an achingly devastating moment where something good seems to happen to Paul until bad news walks right through the door, shifting his expression to “Why did I get my hopes up” defeat and hope shattered in Paul Giamatti’s face while Christmas music plays in the background. Tully wants nothing more than to visit the father he hasn’t seen in ages. There is also the lingering doom that if Tully continues getting kicked out of more schools due to his problematic behavior, he might end up in the Vietnam War and become another casualty, just like Mary’s son.
Even when The Holdovers starts to drag temporarily, there is typically always something humorous or engaging transpiring on screen. Again, there isn’t anything refreshing or groundbreaking regarding this found family dynamic, but it is consistently hilarious with some surprisingly powerful closing story beats. Juxtaposed with the snowy winter setting, this film is warm and comforting, happy and sad, all with Alexander Payne excelling within his wheelhouse of human connection and outrageous comedy.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
