The Holdovers
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlexander Payne
Written byDavid Hemingson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEigil Bryld
Edited byKevin Tent
Music byMark Orton
Production
companies
Distributed byFocus Features
Release dates
  • August 31, 2023 (2023-08-31) (Telluride)
  • October 27, 2023 (2023-10-27) (United States)
Running time
133 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$13.9 million[2][3]

The Holdovers is a 2023 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne, written by David Hemingson, and starring Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa. Set in 1970, it follows a curmudgeonly history teacher at a New England boarding school who is forced to chaperone the handful of students with nowhere to go over Christmas break.

It premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was released in the United States by Focus Features on October 27, 2023. It received positive reviews and has grossed $13 million.

Plot

In December 1970, Paul Hunham is a classics teacher at Barton Academy, a boarding school in New England, who is disliked by students and fellow faculty due to his strict and uptight attitude. He is selected to remain on campus over the holiday break to look after the "holdovers", students who must remain on campus for various reasons.

As students and faculty depart Barton for the holidays, Angus Tully, one of Hunham's students, learns that his mother has abruptly planned a honeymoon with his new stepfather, leaving him with the other four "holdover" students. Also staying at Barton is Mary Lamb, the cafeteria administrator, who is still grieving the loss of her son (himself a Barton alumnus) in the Vietnam War.

At first, Paul regulates the holdover students’ holiday break like regular school days, imposing academic teaching and exercise. Five days into the break, the parents of another one of Angus's wealthy classmates arrive via helicopter and offer to take the holdovers on their family ski trip. Paul is able to get permission from everyone's parents, except for Angus's mother and stepfather, who are unreachable on honeymoon. Angus is forced to stay behind as the sole student remaining at Barton.

Growing more resentful of his mother for abandoning him for the holidays, Angus attempts to run away and stay at a hotel, making a call for a room. Paul catches Angus and chases after him throughout the school. The chase ends with Angus dislocating his shoulder upon crashing into a pile of gym equipment in an act of defiance. While at the hospital, Angus manages to convince the doctor to drop an insurance claim to protect Paul from potential legal troubles, while Paul protects him after the latter gets into an argument with a disabled war veteran at a local restaurant.

On Christmas Eve, Angus, Paul, Mary, and Barton's janitor, Danny, are invited to the holiday party of school office administrator Lydia Crane. While Angus flirts with Lydia's niece over finger painting, Paul grows discontent after discovering Lydia has a significant other, and an inebriated Mary breaks down over her son's death. Angus, who is enjoying himself at the party, protests against leaving, prompting Paul to berate him. Despondent, Angus tells Paul of his father's "death", to which Mary chastises him for his insensitivity.

The next morning, Paul puts together a small celebration. By night, pressed by Mary, he grants Angus's wish to go to Boston, justifying it as a field trip. Angus and Paul drop off Mary in the Roxbury neighborhood of the city, where she visits her pregnant sister and works to come to terms with her son's death. Meanwhile, Angus and Paul bond over various activities in Boston, including ice skating and a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. The two bump into Hugh Cavanaugh, a past Harvard University classmate of Hunham's who is now a successful academic. Paul lies about his current career to impress Cavanaugh and Angus plays along, pretending to be Hunham's nephew. Paul reveals to Angus that he was expelled from Harvard after being framed for plagiarism by the son of a legacy donor, which ruined his career prospects and forced him to return to Barton as a teacher.

Later, while watching a showing of Little Big Man at the Orpheum Theatre, Angus sneaks out again, only to be quickly caught by Paul. Angus says he wants to visit his father, causing Paul to agree and believe the two would be visiting a cemetery. Instead, a taxi driver takes the duo to a sanatorium where Angus's father is still alive and staying after suffering a mental breakdown. The visit upsets Angus and Paul comforts him after he expresses his fear of becoming just like his father, reminding him that everyone can create a life for themselves. The two later join Mary and Danny in celebrating the countdown to New Year's Day 1971 by watching the Times Square ball drop on television and setting off a firework in the school kitchen.

After everyone returns to Barton from the holidays, Angus's mother and stepfather arrive at the school unannounced. It is revealed that Angus had given his father a snow globe he had stolen from Lydia's Christmas party; according to Angus's mother, his father begged to be allowed to come home after his son's visit, and had attacked a sanatorium staff member with the snow globe when they refused. Paul is asked why he took Angus to visit his father in Boston, and Angus's stepfather expresses his intent of sending Angus away to military school. Paul takes the blame for the trip and is fired as a result, while Angus is allowed to stay at Barton.

Angus and Paul share a heartfelt goodbye and, as Paul leaves the school, he stops his car and drinks the fine cognac he stole from the headmaster, before spitting it out and driving away.

Cast

Paul Giamatti stars as Paul Hunham, one of the main characters in the film
  • Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a classics teacher at the Barton Academy boarding school
  • Dominic Sessa as Angus Tully, a Barton student left on campus during Christmas break
  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb, Barton head cook and bereaved mother
  • Carrie Preston as Miss Lydia Crane, a Barton faculty member
  • Brady Hepner as Teddy Kountze, Angus's enemy; one of five holdovers
  • Ian Dolley as Alex Ollerman, the son of Mormon missionaries; one of five holdovers
  • Jim Kaplan as Ye-Joon Park, an international student from Korea; one of five holdovers
  • Michael Provost as Jason Smith, the Barton football team's quarterback; one of five holdovers
  • Andrew Garman as Dr. Hardy Woodrip, the headmaster of Barton Academy
  • Naheem Garcia as Danny, a Barton janitor
  • Stephen Thorne as Thomas Tully, Angus's institutionalized father
  • Gillian Vigman as Judy Clotfelter, Angus's mother
  • Tate Donovan as Stanley Clotfelter, Angus's stepfather
  • Darby Lily Lee-Stack as Elise, Angus's romantic interest

Production

The Holdovers is the second collaboration between director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti after Sideways (2004). Payne conceived the film's concept after watching Marcel Pagnol's 1935 film Merlusse,[4] and contacted David Hemingson to write the screenplay, which was originally a writing sample for a television pilot.[5] In June 2021, Miramax acquired the distribution rights.[6] In early 2022, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Carrie Preston joined the cast.[7][8]

Filming began in Massachusetts on January 27, 2022.[9][10][11] Location manager Kai Quinlan, who previously worked on other New England-set films like Spotlight and Black Mass, drew on her Massachusetts upbringing for the film.[12] For the fictional Barton Academy, five Massachusetts schools were used as locations: Groton, Northfield Mount Hermon, Deerfield Academy, St. Mark's School and Fairhaven High School.[13] (Dominic Sessa, starring in his first film role as Angus, attended Deerfield in the class of 2022.)[14] The film also shot at the historic Somerville and Orpheum theatres, and on the Boston Common. Payne later said that capturing the 1970s aesthetic was relatively easy because "change comes slowly to New England".[15]

Music

Original music for The Holdovers was composed by Mark Orton. It also features several classic Christmas songs, and other songs from the 1970s by The Allman Brothers Band, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Labi Siffre, and Cat Stevens. The soundtrack was released digitally by Back Lot Music on November 10, 2023, and on compact disc and vinyl on November 17.[16]

Release

A special screening of the film was held for buyers on September 11, 2022. The next day, it was reported that Focus Features had acquired distribution rights for $30 million.[17] The film was scheduled for a limited theatrical release on November 10, 2023, followed by wide release on November 22.[18] However, it was pushed up to a limited release on October 27, followed by a wide release on November 10.[19] It is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom by Universal Pictures UK on January 19, 2024.[1]

The Holdovers's world premiere was held at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023.[20][21] It also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2023, where it was runner-up for the People's Choice Award.[22][23] It was also invited to be shown in the 28th Busan International Film Festival's 'Icon' section, where it was screened on 7 October 2023.[24]

Reception

Box office

The film made $211,093 from six theaters in its opening weekend, an average of $35,082 per venue.[25] It expanded to 64 theaters in its second weekend, making $599,833.[26] It then made $4.3 million from 778 theaters in its third weekend.[27] Continuing to expand, it made $2.7 million in both its fourth and fifth weekends.[28][29]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 234 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Beautifully bittersweet, The Holdovers marks a satisfying return to form for director Alexander Payne."[30] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 55 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[31] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score.[29]

Wesley Morris of The New York Times praised Giamatti's performance as well as Payne's direction, writing that, "even as the story accrues the heft of personal tragedy, each scene seems to float or bob."[32] Patrick Ryan, writing for USA Today, compared the film to Frank Capra’s It's a Wonderful Life, noting that both films grapple with troubled pasts and shattered dreams at Christmastime.[33] Critics have also compared it to the films of Hal Ashby such as Harold and Maude and The Last Detail.[34][35]

Reviews in The Boston Globe and Boston.com both praised the film's setting in 1970s New England.[35][36] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that the film "doesn't only have the look and feel of that time period, it resuscitates the finest elements of its narrative traditions".[37] Richard Brody writing for The New Yorker described The Holdovers as "a pile of clichés" but one realized "with such loving immediacy that it feels as if Payne were discovering them for himself". Brody was more critical of the time period, arguing that the "hermetically sealed, historically reduced drama" ignored the politically fraught setting of the 1970s.[38] Nonetheless, Michael Schulman, another writer for The New Yorker, included Giamatti, Sessa and Randolph in his list of the year's best performances and considered the latter "in a prime position for the Best Supporting Actress race."[39]

Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times praised the "enveloping sense of time and place," but criticized the film as a whole as being "a flat, phony, painfully diagrammatic movie masquerading as a compassionate, humane one". Chang said that Mary Lamb, despite Randolph's affecting performance, was "somehow the movie's most under-developed role". Chang in particular criticized the film's depiction of racist taunts against one of the film's students Ye-Joon Park writing, "His sole narrative function, really, is to awaken Angus' sympathies...But in reducing Ye-Joon to such an abused prop, is The Holdovers itself really any better? Can anyone watch a scene this callous and then be honestly moved, later on, by Paul's sanctimonious speech about the injustices of American racism, classism and white privilege?"[34][34]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Toronto International Film Festival September 17, 2023 People's Choice Award The Holdovers Runner-up [23]
Heartland International Film Festival October 5, 2023 Pioneering Spirit: Rising Star Award Dominic Sessa Won [40]
Montclair Film Festival October 30, 2023 Audience Award - Fiction Feature The Holdovers Won [41]
Gotham Independent Film Awards November 27, 2023 Outstanding Supporting Performance Da'Vine Joy Randolph Nominated [42]
San Diego International Film Festival October 22, 2023 Audience Award - Best Gala Film The Holdovers Won [43]
Celebration of Cinema & Television December 4, 2023 Supporting Actress Award (Film) Da’Vine Joy Randolph Won [44]
Santa Barbara International Film Festival February 10, 2024 Virtuoso Award Da'Vine Joy Randolph Won [45]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards November 30, 2023 Best Supporting Actress Won [46]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Holdovers (15)". BBFC. November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  2. ↑ "The Holdovers". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  3. ↑ "The Holdovers – Financial Information". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  4. ↑ Hammond, Pete (September 1, 2023). "The Holdovers Review". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 14, 2021). "Alexander Payne Taps His Sideways Star Paul Giamatti For The Holdovers: Hot Cannes Package". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  6. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 28, 2021). "Miramax Lands World Rights On Alexander Payne-Directed The Holdovers With Paul Giamatti: Cannes Market". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  7. ↑ Kroll, Justin (January 26, 2022). "Da'Vine Joy Randolph Joins Paul Giamatti In Alexander Payne and Miramax's The Holdovers". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  8. ↑ Grobar, Matt (March 31, 2022). "The Holdovers: Carrie Preston Boards Alexander Payne's Film For Miramax". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  9. ↑ Slane, Kevin (February 4, 2022). "Paul Giamatti is in Massachusetts to film The Holdovers". Boston.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  10. ↑ Chitwood, Seth (February 26, 2022). "Paul Giamatti reunites with Alexander Payne to film The Holdovers at Fairhaven High". The Standard-Times. Archived from the original on February 28, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  11. ↑ McLaughlin, Chris (July 19, 2023). "'The Holdovers,' set and shot in Mass., unveils its first movie trailer starring Paul Giamatti". masslive.
  12. ↑ Natalia Winkelman (November 2, 2023). "How do you travel back to 1970s Massachusetts in the movies? Location, location, location". The Boston Globe.
  13. ↑ "How The Holdovers Makes a Star of Boarding School". Town & Country. November 4, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  14. ↑ Deshpande, Svetlana (June 2, 2022). "Artist of the Issue: Dominic Sessa". The Deerfield Scroll. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  15. ↑ Erin Trahan (November 3, 2023). "For director Alexander Payne, making 'The Holdovers' felt like 'coming home'". WBUR.
  16. ↑ "'The Holdovers' Soundtrack Album Details". Film Music Reporter. October 27, 2023. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  17. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 12, 2022). "In Whopping $30 Million Deal, Focus Features Lands Miramax Alexander Payne-Paul Giamatti Reteam The Holdovers After Toronto Buyers Screening". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  18. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 23, 2023). "Alexander Payne's Reteam With Paul Giamatti 'The Holdovers' Gets Fall Release Date From Focus Features". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Theatrical Release Changes for the Week Ending June 25, 2023". the-numbers.com. Nash Information Services.
  20. ↑ "50th Telluride Film Festival - Program Guide" (PDF). Telluride Film Festival. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  21. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (August 30, 2023). "Telluride Film Festival Lands World Premieres From Emerald Fennell, Alexander Payne, Andrew Haigh". Vanity Fair. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  22. ↑ "The Holdovers". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  23. 1 2 Lang, Brent (September 17, 2023). "Cord Jefferson's 'American Fiction' Wins Toronto Film Festival Audience Award". Variety. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  24. ↑ "The 28th Busan International Film Festival: Selection List". Busan International Film Festival. September 5, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  25. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 28, 2023). "'Five Nights At Freddy's' $78M Breaks Mold On Peacock Theatrical Day & Date; Best Opening For Blumhouse, Halloween & More – Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  26. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 5, 2023). "Autumn Box Office Blues: 'Freddy's At $19M+ Leads 'Dune'-Less Frame As Strike Continues – Sunday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  27. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 12, 2023). "'The Marvels' Meltdown: Disney MCU Seeing Lowest B.O. Opening Ever At $47M+ — What Went Wron". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  28. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 19, 2023). "'The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes' Chirps $44M Opening: Enough To Reignite Franchise?; 'Marvels' Suffers Worst MCU 2nd Weekend Drop – Sunday Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 19, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  29. 1 2 Goldsmith, Jill (November 26, 2023). "'Saltburn's Bloody Good Expansion Buoyed By Coasts, Nabs Top Ten Weekend Spot – Specialty Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  30. ↑ "The Holdovers". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  31. ↑ "The Holdovers". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  32. ↑ "'The Holdovers' Review: Three Sad Souls Stranded for Christmas". The New York Times. November 9, 2023.
  33. ↑ Patrick Ryan (November 9, 2023). "'The Holdovers' with Paul Giamatti shows the 'dark side' of Christmas". USA Today.
  34. 1 2 3 Chang, Justin (October 26, 2023). "Review: Bah, humbug! The Holdovers is a clunky, phony white-elephant gift of a movie". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  35. 1 2 Henderson, Odie (October 30, 2023). "The Holdovers is Payne's paean to all the lonely people". The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  36. ↑ Slane, Kevin (November 9, 2023). "The Holdovers is a love letter to 1970s Massachusetts". Boston.com. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  37. ↑ Ann Hornaday (November 1, 2023). "'The Holdovers': A tale of three loners, suffused with tenderness". The Washington Post.
  38. ↑ Richard Brody (October 31, 2023). "The Nineteen-Seventies of The Holdovers Is Conveniently Sanitized". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  39. ↑ Schulman, Michael (November 29, 2023). "The Best Performances of 2023". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  40. ↑ "32nd Heartland International Film Festival Announces Winners & Presents $60,000 in cash prizes". Heartland International Film Festival. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  41. ↑ Anderson, Erik (October 30, 2023). "2023 Montclair Film Festival Competition and Audience Awards: 'The Holdovers,' American Symphony,' 'The Taste of Things' and more".
    Molloy, Tim (October 31, 2023). "The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed Is Among Top Winners at Montclair Film Festival". MovieMaker. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  42. ↑ Lewis, Hilary (October 24, 2023). "'Past Lives,' 'A Thousand and One' and 'All of Us Strangers' Top Gotham Awards Film Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  43. ↑ "2023 Film Festival Awards". San Diego Film Festival. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  44. ↑ "The Critics Choice Association Announces Honorees for the Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements – Critics Choice Awards". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  45. ↑ "Lily Gladstone, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Greta Lee, Charles Melton to be Honored at Santa Barbara International Film Festival with Virtuoso Award". AwardsWatch. November 16, 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  46. ↑ "New York Film Critics Awards: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Wins Best Film, Nolan Wins Director (Full List)". Variety. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
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