The Holdovers (2023)
Director: Alexander Payne
Screenwriter: David Hemingson
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner, Ian Dolley, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Andrew Garmon, Naheem Garcia, Stephen Thorne, Gillian Vigman, Tate Donovan, Juanita Pearl
Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers reunites him with Paul Giamatti and demonstrates the same keen eye for flawed, complicated characters that marked their earlier collaboration. Where Sideways revealed Giamatti’s talent for making deeply imperfect men both compelling and oddly sympathetic, this film continues that exploration in a quieter, more contained setting: a New England prep school during the Christmas break of 1970.
At the center is Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), an ill-tempered classical history teacher who is tasked with supervising the students who cannot go home for the holidays—the eponymous “holdovers.” Hunham is socially awkward, resentful, and given to cruel put-downs; he carries visible marks of being an outsider, including a lazy eye and health issues, and he guards his vulnerabilities with a barbed personality. Assigned to care for the dwindling number of students, he finds himself paired with Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the school’s kitchen manager grieving her son, and Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a contrarian 17-year-old facing family abandonment and the looming possibility of military conscription.
Payne intentionally evokes the era in both visual and audio design—subtle film grain, period studio logos, and a soundtrack that mixes traditional hymns, Christmas songs and 1960s pop—to create a textured, authentic atmosphere. The film’s pace reflects that era as well: it is a character-driven slow burn rather than a plot-heavy drama. Most of the tension and emotional movement comes from conversations, small gestures, and moments of uneasy intimacy, not from action or spectacle.
Hunham’s cruelty is sometimes shocking but also revealing. He refuses special treatment for privileged students and seems motivated as much by a desire for control as by principle. He insults students, takes pleasure in exposing their weaknesses, and grades with a brutal honesty that borders on vindictiveness—one memorable moment finds him issuing an F+. Yet beneath the barbs, Payne and the script reveal the elder man’s own regrets and missed opportunities: returning to teach at his alma mater instead of taking risks in life, and isolating himself rather than seeking connection.
Mary and Angus function as emotional counterpoints to Paul. Mary carries fresh and unresolved grief over losing her son in combat, while Angus hides trauma and fears that the school may be his last safe harbor before being sent to Vietnam. Both long for human contact and understanding, but the only adult willing to spend the holidays with them is the prickly Hunham. That imperfect trio—teacher, kitchen manager, and adolescent—forms the heart of the film as they try to salvage some form of warmth and dignity amid institutional indifference.
As the story unfolds within the confined spaces of the wintery campus, careful performances and sharp writing bring out humor and pathos in equal measure. Payne’s trademark wry irony is present: he observes human foibles with empathy while refusing to sentimentalize them. Characters are allowed to be small, stubborn, and frankly unlikeable at times, which makes the film’s quieter moments of connection feel earned. The movie avoids cliché: it isn’t a conventional redemption arc so much as a series of small, believable shifts in how three people relate to one another.
Later sequences broaden the film’s geography—a Christmas party hosted by Lydia (Carrie Preston) and an impromptu trip to Boston open the story beyond the school. These scenes are less tightly focused than the earlier boarding-school material and could arguably be trimmed for pace, but they also provide emotional payoffs, showing how fragile bonds formed under duress can extend into the world outside the institution. Moments like Mary supporting her pregnant sister add layers of compassion that balance the film’s darker, sardonic edge.
Filmed in austere New England schools and set against bleak mid-winter landscapes, the movie deliberately avoids the cozy trappings of a traditional holiday film. It’s one of the less conventional entries in the category of seasonal movies—better grouped with bittersweet alternatives than with brightly festive fare. Still, its honest portrayals of grief, loneliness and tentative companionship give it a strong emotional core.
Ultimately, The Holdovers is another carefully observed portrait from Alexander Payne: a film that examines human shortcomings, class expectations, and the quiet need for connection. It may not be a life-changing work, but it is sharp, heartfelt and often very funny. The performances—particularly from Giamatti, Randolph and Sessa—are among the year’s best, delivering a story that lingers because it honors awkwardness and vulnerability rather than smoothing them away.
Score: 19/24
Rating: 4 out of 5.