The Holdovers: A heartwarming tale of finding your own family

“The Holdovers” takes place at Barton Academy, a prep school for wealthy and upper-class young boys. It’s the Christmas holiday and everyone is getting ready to go home and spend time with their families. That is, everyone except for Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), one of the least-liked teachers at the school by students and faculty alike. He must stay behind and watch over the school’s holdovers, those whose parents couldn’t pick them up from school for whatever reason. One of these holdovers is 15-year-old Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose mother has left him stranded at the school while she and her new husband travel off on their honeymoon together. Now, Angus is stuck at Barton and must spend his entire Christmas break suffering under the wrath of Mr. Hunham and his academic tyranny. Joining them is the head cook of the school’s cafeteria, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who remains at the school because she is still mourning the loss of her son who died tragically in the Vietnam War. Over the course of their two-week Christmas holiday, these three very different people will come together to form an unorthodox family that will help them each move through their individual traumas.

Paul Giamatti gives a great performance as the snarky professor Paul Hunham. Much of the comedy of the movie comes from his character and the multitude of creative ways he stings not only his students but other members of the school’s faculty as well. Giamatti also hits all of the awkward and nerdy beats of the character, spewing out historical fun facts about the ancient Greeks or the historically accurate history of Santa Claus to anyone who will reluctantly lend an ear. He’s that annoying history teacher that we all had, but turned up to eleven. The character never comes off as annoying to watch though. Instead, he’s quite likable.  In every scene, you can’t wait for the next barb that Huhnham will throw at these privileged, spoiled rich kids, who’ve probably never had someone tell them off once in their lives. As the story and his relationship with student Angus Tully progresses, he changes from an abrasive teacher to a guiding mentor.

Speaking of Angus Tully, Dominic Sessa’s performance as the moody teenager is solid as well. This is Sessa’s first film role, but he doesn’t come off as a newcomer. There are a few scenes in the movie where his performance could be more nuanced, but it’s not anything that will take you out of the film. He has a monologue towards the end of the movie and at his character’s emotional peak that he definitely nails. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is good as well. Mary is the comedic center of the film alongside Pual Hunham. Not only does she provide a ton of comedy, but she is also the heartbeat of the trio, telling Hunham and Tully off for their bad behaviors and helping them to grow closer in the process. Other side characters such as Tully’s fellow holdovers and other members of the Barton school staff are entertaining, but not in the film for too long. The other holdover students leave relatively early in the film, and a part of me wishes that we did get to see more of them and their interactions with Tully and Hunham since they were all so hilarious together. But I assume the filmmakers wanted to keep the focus of the story on the three main characters instead of a group.

The Holdovers is a film that will warm the audience’s hearts but also fill them with laughter. It’s funny, entertaining, and has a bittersweet ending that will stick with you for a long time.