The Holdovers

The Holdovers

A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.

  • Released: 2023-11-10
  • Runtime: 133 minutes
  • Genre: Comedy, Drama
  • Stars: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Gillian Vigman, Dustin Tucker, Bill Mootos, Paul Giamatti, Dan Aid, Colleen Clinton, Brady Hepner, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Andrew Garman, Naheem Garcia, Stephen Thorne, Tate Donovan, Alexander Cook, Liz Bishop, Cole Tristan Murphy, Will Sussbauer, Carter Shimp
  • Director: Alexander Payne
 Comments
  • 851222 - 1 July 2024
    The Holdovers
    Greetings from Lithuania.

    "The Holdovers" (2023) is a film made by Alexander Payne. This is a director which works i have enjoyed tremendously in the past - even the underrated "Downsizing" which in my opinion was excellent satire.

    "The Holdovers" is a comedy-drama and if you have seen any of previous movies made by this director, you'll what to expect here - a great writing, excellent directing and great acting by real character actors. And you will find this all in "The Holdovers", although in my opinion, this is not his best work. Its a good and solid movie but the story has been done many times before, only this time its set during Christmas, in 1970's and its main characters is a teacher and a student. Its a bonding story done right between characters that are as human as possible, while being flawed as possible. There is some humor in this movie but its not a comedy.

    Overall, "The Holdovers" is a good movie made by a great director. Its not Payne's best, but its a solid one. Its does have some pacing issues and at running time 2 h 10 min its does drag here and there, but at the end this is a good movie to recommend it.
  • alexanderliljefors - 7 June 2024
    A pretty good, unique and deep drama.
    Been looking forward to this for a long time, since it got so positive feedback (by some said to be one of this years best films) and because i really like Paul Giamatti.

    This has great premise! A perfect collision between human nature, emotions and human drama!

    Abit slow at some moments, but i think its on purpose to fit with the storyline.

    Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa is really doing a amazing performances!

    The script is great!! Extremely well written! Aswell the soundtrack! The filming is very good at some scenes, some Wes Anderson-vibe, but some scenes are filmed very basic.

    The story development is really good and really gets me stuck to the film!

    Overall its a pretty good, unique and deep drama. I really recommend it!