The Holdovers (15)

Classics teacher Paul Hunham incurs the wrath of headmaster Dr Hardy Woodrup by failing the son of a powerful senator. As punishment, Woodrup selects Paul to remain on campus over Christmas to chaperone the boys who won't be travelling home for the holidays. Fate conspires to reduce the Yuletide stragglers to Paul, head cook Mary Lamb and student Angus Tully. The unholy trinity thaws out common ground in snow-laden seclusion.

LondonNet Film Review

The Holdovers (15) Film Review from LondonNet

“Sex is 99% friction and 1% goodwill,” explains a teacher to one of his pupils in director Alexander Payne’s delightful coming-of-middle-age comedy drama, which reunites the filmmaker with actor Paul Giamatti 20 years after they made Sideways in the rolling vineyards of California. A 1970s working-class New England town blanketed by Christmastime snow provides the picturesque setting for The Holdovers, a vibrant portrait of schooldays angst in the vein of Dead Poets Society, scripted with artful precision and an occasional sentimental flourish by David Hemingson…

Laughs are bountiful, whether it be the same teacher warning the pupil about his disruptive conduct (“You are careening toward a suspension!”) or the teenager’s tense response to the threat of detention (“I thought all the Nazis were hiding in Argentina”). Giamatti is magnificent as the irascible and universally disliked scholar in dire need of a re-education in how to connect positively to his wards, while Dominic Sessa makes a sensational debut as the 17-year-old outcast who is terrified of becoming his father. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is equally commanding as the school’s head cook, who is holding back a tidal wave of grief after the recent death of her son in Vietnam. The emotional dam bursts on screen with two simple words: “He’s gone”. She should pen an Oscars acceptance speech.

Classics teacher Paul Hunham (Giamatti) doesn’t tolerate mediocrity from his students at Barton Academy boarding school – or “lazy, vulgar, rancid little Philistines”, as he calls them while marking exam papers. He is a stickler for rules and incurs the wrath of headmaster Dr Hardy Woodrup (Andrew Garman) by failing the son of a powerful senator. As punishment, Woodrup selects Paul to remain on campus over Christmas to chaperone the boys who won’t be travelling home for the holidays.

The teenage reprobates include star quarterback Jason Smith (Michael Provost), Teddy Kountze (Brady Hepner), Alex Ollerman (Ian Dolley), Korean international student Ye-Joon Park (Jim Kaplan) and Angus Tully (Sessa), whose vacation in St Kitts with his mother (Gillian Vigman) is cancelled at the last minute. Head cook Mary Lamb (Joy Randolph) also remains behind at Barton. Fate conspires to reduce the Yuletide stragglers to Paul, Mary and Angus, which the boy succinctly describes as “two losers and a grieving mom”, and the unholy trinity thaws out common ground in snow-laden seclusion.

The Holdovers is a bittersweet lesson in compassion, discomfort and joy, anchored to three powerhouse performances working in harmony. Groovy production design and Payne’s unfussy direction complement the natural ebb and flow of Hemingson’s script. The denouement plucks the most obvious heartstring but a lazy, vulgar, rancid little Philistine like me loves an emotional pay-off that leaves a lump in the throat. In that respect, Payne’s picture is a high achiever.

– Jo Planter