Each year, it seems there are films that get released that go under the radar but end up being instant classics that can be re-watched year after year. In 2022, it was Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and Aftersun. In 2021, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza took people by storm. Now, in 2023, we have The Holdovers, a wonderful christmas drama starring Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and newcomer Dominic Sessa.
Giamatti and director Alexander Payne have collaborated once before, nearly 20 years ago, on the wonderful Sideways, which may just be Giamatti’s best role. Here, the two reunite and deliver once again on a powerful story with some incredible performances all around.
The Holdovers follows the story of 3 main characters as they remain on campus of fictional New England private school Barton Academy in 1970. Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a curmudgeonly Ancient Civilizations professor at the school whose hard ways teaching ways make him disliked by students and faculty alike. Randolph plays Mary Lamb, the school’s cook who is still grieving the loss of her son Curtis after he enlisted and died in the war shortly after graduating from Barton. Dominic Sessa plays Angus Tully, the only student of Barton Academy who gets stuck “Holding Over”, meaning he is unable to go home for the break and must stay on campus, where Hunham is forced to watch over him.
While the film takes place at Christmastime, it really doesn’t feel like a “Christmas” movie and it would be unfair to label it as such. The Holdovers is really a “Christmas-adjacent” movie you can watch all-year round and be happy about it. Yes, it elicits some of the magic of the holidays, but it also does a really good job of capturing life in the early 1970’s. The free-flowing era, both in personality and in hair (which is fully on display here), works well as a backdrop to the story. I couldn’t imagine trying to pull off this film in the modern era, where cell phones and technology are rampant.
The concept of the film is rather simple, but really, it’s the execution that makes The Holdovers so wonderful. Surprisingly running over 2 hours, there is not a wasted moment in David Hemingson’s Script. It might be the most flawless screenplay of the year, if not in recent years. Hemingson took obvious extra care to flesh out the characters, delivering moments that felt genuine exactly when they were needed. The script itself was incredibly endearing, but also heartbreaking, funny, sad, angry, happy and then does it all over again. There were genuine laugh out loud moments (including what may be the best one-liner I’ve heard in recent years)
While the plot itself is fairly predictable, the film takes extra care to develop our three main characters over time, each getting their moments to shine but along the way showing us, the audience, how to care about them despite their faults. It’s an incredible feat of scriptwriting that is so often lost in today’s film ethos.
This can also be attributed to the fantastic performances of our 3 lead actors. Both Giamatti and Randolph play their characters with poise and expertise that experienced actors should bring. The final product is two wonderful characters that feel real and relatable. We all knew a Mary Lamb or Mr. Hunham growing up, and these two bring out those memories of these characters for the audience to connect with. The real star is Dominic Sessa, however. The Holdovers is his first credited acting role, but watching the film, you’d think otherwise. He brings so much charisma, depth and honesty to his character. Sessa’s ability to act alongside actors with more experience than he’s been alive was truly impressive. He’ll certainly be someone to watch going forward.
Final Thoughts
The Holdovers is easily the newest Christmas classic that you should watch and rewatch every year, much like last year’s A Christmas Story Christmas. However, this is a film that should be watched year-round. It’s that good. Yes, the plot is predictable, but that doesn’t matter. A flawless script and acting performances lift the film to heights it shouldn’t be able to reach. But here we are. The Holdovers is one of my favorite films of 2023, and certainly will be in my top 10 of the year. Seriously, go watch it. You’ll be happy you did.
