Stubs - The Holdovers

The Holdovers (2023) starring Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa. Directed by Alexander Payne. Screenplay by David Hemingson Produced by Mark Johnson, Bill Block, David Hemingson. Run time: 133 minutes. Color. USA Comedy, Drama, Christmas

After six years between projects, Alexander Payne returns to the screen, and re-teamed with Sideways star, Paul Giamatti, with The Holdovers (2023), a comedy drama set at Christmas vacation in 1970 at a private boys school. The result has been nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Giamatti), Best Supporting Actress (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), Best Original Screenplay (David Hemingson), and Best Film Editing (Kevin Tent).

The story revolves around three people, Paul Hunham, a classics teacher at Barton Academy played by Giamatti; Angus Tully, a student, played by Dominic Sessa; and Mary Lamb, the Barton head cook and bereaved mother, played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph, forced to spend two weeks together during the Christmas break when students, staff and faculty leave for the holidays.

Five students, for various reasons, are left to spend the Christmas break at the boarding school. Because of that, Hunham gets drafted to play babysitter and Lamb is left to cook for them. It comes at a time when Lamb's son, and a former student at the school, has been killed in action during the Vietnam War.

Four students suddenly depart the school for a last minute ski holiday when they get invited along with Jason Smith (Michael Provost), the Barton football team's quarterback and his family. But Tully's parents are unavailable, so he's not allowed to go.

Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) and Mary Lamb
(Da'Vine Joy Randolph) form an ersatz family in The Holdovers. 

Hunham is not a popular teacher, and, is in fact, hated and not just by students in his classes. A tough grader, he takes a certain amount of pride in being one. Tully is no prize either. Smart, he is also a bit spoiled, and not well-liked by the other students. He's worried that one more wrong move will get him shipped off to military school.

Adversaries grow to appreciate the other.

The film, which is essentially a character study, shows how these three relative strangers on December 17 form an ersatz family by the time they sit down for Christmas dinner. And over the next week, before school resumes, Tully and Hunham learn each other's darkest secrets and form a bond. Both start the film as self-described a**holes, but by the end have each other's backs.

Paul Giamatti, who seems to excel at these kinds of roles, is his usual good as Paul Hunham. His is a performance worthy of nomination, if not the Academy Award. A multi-faceted character, Hunham takes stock of himself and doesn't like all that he sees.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph likewise gives a strong performance as Lamb, who is spending her first holidays since the death of her only son at the school. Randolph gives a strong performance as Lamb.

I believe this is Dominic Sessa's first film and he does an excellent job as an estranged and troubled teen who stops thinking only about himself and actually comes to appreciate a man, Hunham, who he has, up to now, loathed.

The Holdovers takes it's time to develop the characters that are central to the film. This is not an action-packed adventure film, but it does tell a compelling story, as the characters explore themselves. Don't take the slow pace as a weakness, but rather The Holdovers is allowed to take the time it needs. Alexander Payne's return to film shows the strength of his directorial skills, as he certainly brings out the best performances from the actors.