The Holdovers
- -A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
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The film by Alexander Payne is a masterful fusion of comedy, nostalgia, and genuine emotion.
Review of The Holdovers: The film by Paul Giamatti is a voyage through movies that combines humor and nostalgia. Check out our review by clicking here!
WHATS GOOD
Director Alexander Payne’s signature of dark and confrontational individuals is masterfully portrayed in “The Holdovers.” The picture is brimming with energy, a perfect blend of attitude, knowledge, freshness, and sardonic humor. Payne’s mastery of characterization is evident, forging a compelling and lively story.
WHATS BAD
Although the movie pays close attention to historical minutiae to perfectly recreate the spirit of 1970s, some people might feel the emphasis on nostalgia to be too much. The picture occasionally wears its emotions openly, risking lapses into sentimentality, and the emotional weight of personal tragedy may feel burdensome at times.
EXAMINE SCREENPLAY
David Hemingson’s script for “The Holdovers” skillfully combines sensitive storytelling, witty humor, and nostalgia. It deftly crafts the melancholy story of three different personalities stuck at a prep school in New England for the 1970 holidays: Professor Paul Hunham, Angus Tully, and Mary Lamb. The script’s strength is its capacity to go beyond clichés and give characters a genuine, nuanced development. Hemingson’s discourse achieves a deft balance by skillfully combining Alexander Payne’s two goals of faithfully re-creating the 1970s and embracing its beauty. The end product is a vibrant and captivating story that delves into themes of human bonding, individual sorrow, and the enduring yearning for the past, rendering “The Holdovers” a profound and enchanting cinematic encounter.
PLOT
Paul Hunham, who was formerly a scholarship student at Barton Academy in New England, is an authoritarian classics professor in December 1970. Because of his challenging demeanor and brutally honest grading, he is hated by both pupils and fellow educators. Woodrup, the headmaster of Barton Academy, chastises Hunham for costing the school a significant donor by failing the donor’s son’s class, which resulted in the donor’s son being turned down by Princeton University.
Hunham’s punishment is to oversee the “holdover” students—like Angus Tully, whose mother unexpectedly canceled her honeymoon trip to Saint Kitts with her new husband—that are left on campus for the holidays. Mary Lamb, the cafeteria administrator, is also remaining behind as she mourns the death of her son, a Barton graduate who was murdered while serving in the Vietnam War.
Hunham, to their dismay, demands that the holdovers study and work out throughout their break. After six days, one of them’s affluent father shows up by helicopter and offers to take the entire class on their ski vacation. Unable to ask his parents for permission, Angus finds himself at Barton by himself with Mary and Hunham. Hunham discovers Angus attempting to make lodging arrangements, so he rushes after him as he flees through the school’s hallways. Defiantly, Angus dives into a stack of exercise equipment and dislocates his shoulder. Angus lies at the hospital to absolve Hunham of responsibility. Later, after he and Angus run across Lydia Crane at a restaurant, Hunham makes flirtatious advances toward her, and she extends an invitation to her Christmas Eve party.
Angus, Hunham, Mary, and Danny, Barton’s janitor, go to Lydia’s party on Christmas Eve. As Angus spends time with and plants a kiss on Lydia’s niece Elise, Hunham laments learning that Lydia is intoxicated and has a lover. Mary loses it all because of her son’s passing. Hunham is determined to leave early. Mary chastises Hunham for his callous behavior after Angus passionately declares that his father has passed away during their argument.
After giving his actions some thought, Hunham organizes a small Christmas party and, thanks to Mary’s influence, agrees to Angus’s request for a “field trip” to Boston. After leaving Mary to spend time with her pregnant sister in Roxbury, Angus and Hunham become friends through ice skating and a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They run across a former Harvard University classmate of Hunham’s who has gone on to achieve success in academia. Hunham lies about his career when asked to, and Angus agrees. Reluctantly, Hunham tells Angus that he was kicked out of Harvard for intentionally hitting a colleague—the son of a legacy donor—with a car when she was being set up for plagiarism. after purposefully running over a coworker with a car, the son of a legacy contributor, who had accused him of plagiarism. Hunham’s career prospects were destroyed by the incident, but he was able to get a teaching job at Barton thanks to a relationship with a teacher there.
Angus sneaks off to see Little Big Man at the Orpheum Theatre with Hunham, and Hunham spots him getting into a taxi. Hunham consents to go with Angus when he says he wants to meet his father, presuming they are heading to a graveyard. But Angus’s father is still alive, albeit confined to a mental health facility because of violent outbursts and mental health problems. After the visit, Angus worries that he might become like his father. Hunham reassures him and really says Angus has a great future ahead of him. They celebrate New Year’s Eve with Mary and Danny.
Upon the return of classes in January 1971, Hunham receives a call from Lydia to Woodrup’s office, where he discovers the presence of Angus’s mother and stepfather. They inform Hunham that Angus’s hospital visit was not permitted and that Angus’s father’s snow globe caused him to have another violent outburst. While Angus’s mother and stepfather intend to enrol him in military school, Hunham stands up for Angus and accepts responsibility for the trip. After that, Hunham gets fired, but Angus gets to stay at Barton.
Hunham receives a notebook from Mary, who has accepted the death of her son, for the monograph he intends to write. Hunham and Angus exchange a heartfelt farewell. After stealing a bottle of cognac from Woodrup, Hunham consumes it as he leaves the school, spits part of it toward the building, and drives off.