The Holdovers: Movie Review

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
Director: Alexander Payne

The Holdovers is a classic in the making.

With a premise that begins like a sort of Breakfast Club update (5 boys are made to stay behind at a 1970s prep school during Christmas under the curmudgeonly eye of a joyless teacher), The Holdovers could easily be dismissed.

But within moments, the film's easy charms become apparent, and its whimsical warmth and smart humour kicks in. 

Giamatti plays professor Paul Hunham, a brutal tutor who doesn't have time for his presumed spoiled students and the college staff; Sessa plays the obstreperous Angus, who believes he's about to escape for the holidays but is let down at the last moment and Only Murders in the Building star Randolph, plays Mary, the college cook who has just recently lost her son to the Vietnam war.

When all three are forced to spend time at Barton Academy, it's no surprise what happens to them all, nor does Payne care to deviate from the obvious cliches of where the story could - and indeed does - go.

But that's not to dismiss The Holdovers in the slightest.

If anything, after reuniting with his Sideways star Giamatti in what will undoubtedly be an Oscar-nominated role, The Holdovers makes a great fist of examining relationships and grief in all stages of life. From Hunham's denial that he's stuck, through to Mary's abject grief at her still-raw loss via Angus' punkish misplaced anger at everyone and everything, The Holdovers becomes a metaphor for stasis and being shocked out of it.

Yet, it's also acutely funny as well. Hunham's cantankerous verbosity is beautifully realised by Giamatti who has the kind of sadsack appearance in this that's perfect for conveying what's needed. 

As the gradual sadness between the professor and Angus is brought to the surface, Payne does nothing orginal to convey it, and does nothing to overegg it either. In truth, it's the previous 2 hours of the film that have managed to cast a compassionate lense over their lives and leave the audience caring for this core trio of characters.

The Holdovers is one of those films where nothing major happens, but everything changes within the course of its unspooling. As a result, don't be surprised if you fall hard for it.