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The Holdovers
2023 133 min United States of America R 12+
★8.6
Drama, Comedy
Director: Alexander Payne
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Description
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.
Budget:
$13M
US Gross:
$20.36M
Worldwide:
$42.51M
Starring
Paul Giamatti
Actor
Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Actor
Dominic Sessa
Actor
Awards
BAFTA 2024
— Best Casting
Academy Awards 2024
— Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe 2024
— Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)
Academy Awards 2024
— Best Actor
BAFTA 2024
— Best Casting
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2024
— Best Actor
Academy Awards 2024
— Best Supporting Actress
Academy Awards 2024
— Best Screenplay
Golden Globe 2024
— Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)
Academy Awards 2024
— Best Picture
Golden Globe 2024
— Best Supporting Actress
Academy Awards 2024
— Best Film Editing
Golden Globe 2024
— Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)
BAFTA 2024
— Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA 2024
— Best Actor
BAFTA 2024
— Best Supporting Actor
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2024
— Best Supporting Actress
Key opinion
The Holdovers is widely regarded as a warm, character-driven dramedy that benefits from powerful lead performances and a nostalgic 1970s aesthetic. While most viewers praise its emotional resonance and humor, a minority finds the plot formulaic and the pacing too slow for their liking.
| Acting | The lead performances from Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph provide a magnetic, emotionally resonant core to the film. | |
| Production | The production design and aesthetic choices successfully evoke the atmosphere and zeitgeist of the early 1970s. | |
| Screenplay | The screenplay utilizes witty, character-focused dialogue to balance humor with themes of loneliness and reconciliation. | |
| Originality | Opinions on the narrative arc are divided: some find the story a poignant, character-driven classic, while others criticize it as a predictable and underdeveloped trope. | |
| Pacing | The film's deliberate, contemplative pace is praised by fans for allowing character growth, but viewed as boring or disjointed by detractors. |