‘The Holdovers’ – Review
Sometimes, a partnership generates moments of pure artistic genius, and the presence of Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti together is just such a thing. In a reunion nearly 20 years in the making since their masterful work on the satirical comedy Sideways, Payne and Giamatti are back for the comedy-drama The Holdovers, and the result is pure bliss.
A curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school remains on campus during Christmas break to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go. He soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker (Dominic Sessa) and with the school’s head cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a woman who just lost a son in the Vietnam War.
Since the mid-1990s, Alexander Payne has proven he has the talent for capturing a unique side of the American landscape, and his brilliant satirical comedies, including Election, About Schmidt, Nebraska and the aforementioned Sideways, have been a hit with audiences and created a unique way for his audiences to both laugh and reflect upon themselves. Now Payne turns back the clock and takes audiences back to December 1970 for a cinema experience that is effortlessly charming, whimsically surprising, and utterly heartwarming in The Holdovers. Payne’s script crackles with witty and delightful dialogue, and he lets his actors do their thing. The result makes for a cinema-going experience that makes the film crackle with delight.
The Holdovers captures the true essence of the 1970s and its North-Eastern preppy boarding school. The winter is swirling, the Vietnam War is raging, and his three main characters are trying to understand everything. Watching The Holdovers is to experience what my sister described as ‘The Breakfast Club meets Good Will Hunting meets Dead Poets Society‘. It’s a film laced with that free-fire American energy and style, and Payne keeps plenty of narrative surprises ready to keep audiences on their feet. Thematically, it is very much a Christmas movie, but the themes and style make this film accessible no matter what time of year, and you get the feeling with The Holdovers that this is a movie you’ll want to come back to again and again.
Paul Giamatti is an utter delight as an actor, and when he’s paired with Payne, the director sparkles a special kind of magic in his performance, and it’s all present here. Giamatti is in his element as Paul Hunham, a curmudgeonly, spiteful, bitter, disagreeable, know-it-all classics teacher at the prestigious Barton Academy. And to put it bluntly, he doesn’t have a lot of friends, and he’s damn well fine with that. But when he picks the short straw and is entrusted to look over ‘the holdovers’, aka the kids who don’t get to go home for winter break, well, things get interesting. As the narrative begins to build out, however, we come to see that there’s considerable depth and history to Hunham, and Giamatti goes to town with a performance that will knock audiences back in their seats. He fully disappears into this odd and out-spoken character and brings to life a meticulous persona that makes for very amusing viewing.
Both Payne and Giamatti also benefit from the presence of their fellow performers, Dominic Sessa and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and both are breathtaking in their performances. As Angus Tully, a Baton student, Sessa at first comes off as natty and squabblesome, not content to be left in the care of Hunham, but as the holidays grow, and they get to know one another, Hunham grows on Tully, and a respectful trust builds between the two of them. Bringing a serious dose of heart to the proceedings of The Holdovers is Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb, the head cook at Barton Academy who has faced the traumatic and sudden loss of her only son due to the Vietnam War. Randolph brings incredible expression to the part of Mary, and her soulful performance leaves a significant impression on audiences.
The Holdovers is a movie that you must watch in a cinema as it’s utterly brilliant. Alexander Payne has done an exceptional job with this funny and thought-provoking dramedy that makes for a touching watch and makes you feel the depth and complexity of its characters. It’s a great movie to watch, and those who view it will surely feel rewarded.
Image: Universal Pictures
