Hello film fans, Slick Dungeon here! I’m back to review yet another Oscar nominated film. This time I’m reviewing the latest film where Paul Giamatti gets to play a grumpy old man who is quick to anger but just may have a soft heart underneath after all. I am, of course, talking about The Holdovers. There will be spoilers for this film in the review below so if you don’t enjoy that, get your wealthy parents to hire a helicopter, have them pick you up for ski week where you can go and watch the movie, and then come on back here to read the review.

What’s it About?

The Holdovers is a coming of age film that takes place at a prestigious boarding school which is a pipeline for wealthy boys to end up in Ivy League colleges. Over winter break several students have to stay behind because for one reason or another their parents don’t want them back during the Christmas and New Year break. This means the school has minimal staff and only a single faculty member there to watch over the boys. The year is 1970 and Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is not only the most hated teacher at the school, by both the other teachers and the students, he’s also the one who is stuck staying over the break. Mr. Hunham is a tough grader, even for the students who have parents that pay enough to the school where they expect their kids to get good grades. As if that were not enough, he also simply has an arrogant and abrasive personality so not a lot of people tend to like him. This has landed him in some hot water so he is stuck with the babysitting duty this year.

Also left behind is Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) who is the school cook and has just lost her son who was serving in Vietnam.  

As far as the students go, there is a group of five of them left behind, including Angus Tully who was not expecting to be left there. Despite the fact the school is on break, Mr. Hunham forces the boys to study, exercise, and generally keep to the strict discipline of the school regulations.

We also learn that Mr. Hunham was once a student at the school. The routine goes on for six days with some infighting amongst the boys, a few shouting matches and some shoving, the boys desperate to get out of there and barely controlled chaos. But one of the boys has a wealthy father who arrives with his helicopter to take as many of the students as are allowed on a ski trip.

Unfortunately for Mary and Mr. Hunham, Angus Tully’s parents can’t be reached so he can’t get permission to go on the trip. This means the three of them are stuck at the school together. At one point Angus gets so fed up with being there he runs through the halls with Mr. Hunham chasing him. Angus gets to the gym which is supposed to be off limits and does a little tumble where he badly hurts his arm.

Mr. Hunham has no choice but to take Angus to the hospital and he knows this could get him fired. But, Angus covers for his teacher that way he won’t get fired and Angus’ parents won’t find out. While Mr. Hunham isn’t happy with Angus lying, he does seem to soften his attitude a bit.

Angus and his teacher end up going out to dinner where Angus almost gets into a fight but Mr. Hunham smooths things over. And, they meet a woman from the school working part time at the restaurant who invites them for a Christmas party. Angus, Mary and Mr. Hunham all go to the party. Angus is devastated to find out that Lydia who is throwing the party has a boyfriend. Mary who has been holding herself together breaks down over the loss of her son. And Angus, for the first time the whole break, is having a good time, having met a girl who is interested in him.

Trying to get Mary home, Mr. Hunham argues with Angus. Angus says his father is dead and Mr. Hunham shouts at him. Mary scolds the teacher for making a kid who has been left all alone at Christmas feel like no one wants him.

The next day Mr. Hunhams’ attitude softens a bit more and he even goes to the point of buying a Christmas tree. He offers to do anything that will make Angus and Mary’s break better and Angus immediately wants to go to Boston. Hunham reluctantly agrees and the three take a road trip, figuring it falls under the purview of the school rules because it is a field trip.

Mary catches up with her sister who is pregnant. Meanwhile Angus and Mr. Hunham get to know each other a bit more, going to book stores, museums and bowling. Angus tells Mr. Hunham that if he were to explain ancient civilizations to his class the way he does in the museum, a lot more of the students would like him. We also find out about Hunham’s past and it turns out he has had a bit of a scandal that was not his fault that landed him at the school he now teaches at. He doesn’t regret it but he bends the truth to impress people he knew in his past.

Angus runs away from his teacher to go see his dad. Mr. Hunham catches him just in time and tells Angus he can go to a cemetery but it turns out the dad is actually in a mental institution. Angus meets with his dad and it doesn’t go well.

Mary, Mr. Hunham, and Angus all go back to the school and ring in the new year.

Finally the other students return and it turns out that Angus’ mother and step father are really angry about Angus seeing his dad. This is especially bad for Angus because if he is kicked out of his current school he will end up in a military academy and if he ends up in a military academy, he is almost certain to end up in Vietnam. But, Mr. Hunham covers for Angus at the cost of his own job.

The film has a folksy soundtrack to accompany it and plenty of shots of a New England winter to set the scene. It’s well acted and we can see Paul Giamatti’s character go from abrasive and curmudgeonly to more accepting of others and more willing to try and achieve something for himself. Mary goes through an emotional journey to accept the loss of her son as best she can. And Angus seems like he’s more willing to stick to the rules for long enough that he might make it through school.

While the plot doesn’t sound funny at all, there are some rather funny parts. Paul Giamatti is excellent at insults filled with lots of academic language and he is a good foil for almost any other character in a scene with him. He shows his softer side when it comes to Mary, having a strong understanding of how hard things are for her, and understanding that most of the students at the school he teachers are wealthy enough not to have to worry about much in life. Da’Vine Joy Randolph puts in a great performance as a woman trying to keep herself together in the worst of circumstances. And Dominic Sessa who plays Angus does a great job tapping into teenage angst and fear while maintaining an intelligent mind.

The film is up for several awards for good reason so let’s get into those.

The Awards

The Holdovers is up for five Oscars this year.

Best Actor

Paul Giamatti is a consistently good actor and he has been nominated lots of times. The problem he has in this category is coming from a couple of directions. First, he is playing the kind of character we have seen him play before. That is, a person who goes from angry and standoffish to one who softens but still keeps some of that abrasiveness. More importantly, he is up against Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer. As good as Giamatti is, I don’t see him winning over that performance. As far as the other nominees, Colman Domingo had a great turn as Bayard Rustin in Rustin, Bradley Cooper dove completely into his role as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, and Jeffrey Wright has a strong case to make with American Fiction. Paul Giamatti will no doubt be up for this award again but this year he is not going to get it.

Supporting Actress

Da’Vine Joy Randolph is truly one of the best parts of the film, knowing when to hold in emotion and when to let it out for the audience to see. She does a fantastic job as Mary Lamb here. But, in this category I think Danielle Brooks who was in The Color Purple had an even better performance. And while that film may have been largely overlooked in the Oscars, I am hoping Brooks’ performance won’t be. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is also up against Emily Blunt for Oppenheimer, America Ferrera for Barbie and Jodie Foster for Nyad.

Film Editing

The editing in this film is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it and it keeps a pretty good pace. There weren’t any major editing mistakes or odd choices. But it’s not the best edited film of the year. I think both Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon had a more difficult and technical job to do and both are better edited than The Holdovers. I think Oppenheimer will win this one. The other nominees are Anatomy of a Fall, and Poor Things.

Best Picture

The Holdovers is a good film and so far out of the ones I have seen nominated for Best Picture is one of the funniest. It’s also got some good emotion in it with a nice personal story and fully developed characters. There is a lot going well for it and if you watch it I don’t think you will regret it. But Best Picture? No, sorry it is not the best this year. Again, that’s Oppenheimer but really, who can compete with that? I’ve still got a few movies to see in this category but I would be pretty surprised if any of them changed my mind here. Still, watch the blog for more reviews!

Writing (Original Screenplay)

This is the category I think The Holdovers has the best shot of winning. It’s not competing against Oppenheimer, or Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s up against Anatomy of a Fall which is a really well written courtroom drama, Maestro which tells the life story of Leonard Bernstein, May December which is a bit of a melodrama but no doubt well written, and Past Lives which tells a very personal story. In this category I think the top three are Maestro, Anatomy of a Fall, and The Holdovers. I strongly suspect The Holdovers has the best case to make here. I won’t be shocked if another movie wins but I am placing my bet with The Holdovers here.

In Conclusion

The Holdovers is a good film. It has a little bit of the DNA of Dead Poet’s Society but with a bit less pretentiousness and is more of a personal story than that one. It’s got a bit of oddball comedy that only Paul Giamatti can truly pull off. And it has some truly emotional moments in it. I can say it is probably one of the ten best films of the year and may even be in the top three. Unfortunately for The Holdovers 2023 was a seriously good year for films so the competition is hitting hard against it. I recommend to anyone who likes a good drama with a bit of comedy but it’s not going to win as many Oscars as it might have if it came out a different year.

Awardingly yours,

Slick Dungeon