‘The Holdovers’ review: Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti create another gem

An unconventional holiday tale that resonates.

Outcasts can often feel like the world left them behind, as if their presence was deleted from the attention spans of everyone that mattered. For Angus Tully (newcomer Dominic Sessa), the people that matter in his life-his mother in this case-have chosen a vacation over a Christmas spent with him. A smart yet troubled student at a private school called Barton, he is forced to spend the break with the cranky and constantly restless Paul Hunham, the professor who unfortunately gets the call of teenage winter orphan watch duty.

Hunham, inhabited completely by Paul Giamatti, is the epitome of a curmudgeon-an aged outcast who enjoys the world that comes with being a perennial black sheep. The two men are inevitably drawn closer to each as the days stretch and rest, testing Angus’s willpower and Hunham’s patience. Along with the only other soul on campus-kitchen manager, Mary Lamb-the two men spar with the cards given to them as much as each other.

It’s Mary, wonderfully played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who acts as the buffer between the two, a pillar of decency thawing the ice of misguided souls clashing head to head. All the while, Mary deals with her own constant storm cloud of grief, having lost her young son to the war. The story takes place right as 1970 turned to ‘71, when the country was stuck in an endless state of post traumatic stress, right near the tail end of the Vietnam war.

Thankfully, Alexander Payne doesn’t mind the harsher areas of melancholic odysseys, pairing well with Giamatti to tell a serious story with a light shade of humor thrown in to make it drinkable. The dry-fitted yet lived-in aesthetic suits a story about three people who normally would be too internally isolated to help or care for each other, except when they’re forced together for a couple weeks.

Professor Hunham is tailor made for Giamatti, an actor who loves characters that live at the corner of existential dread and neurosis. His shell is cracked by Sessa’s young scholar, a soul that may share a few more traits than either man would like to admit. Their interactions resemble a couple of tennis players volleying incessantly, bringing David Hemingson’s intelligent screenplay to vivid use. It’s not just the words spoken, but the projection that each actor attaches to their intent. It’s somewhere between bickering and connection, an ideal resting place for dysfunction.

The Holdovers makes a deeper connection with the audience, extending the sublime Sideways history between the director and lead actor. Like they accomplished there, Payne and Giamatti present a dry, comedic setup early on and then infuse it with lots of heart. We get to know the characters, and then their third act revelations compel us to want to know them more, and care for them. The film achieves a satisfying finale due to the layers that the cast piles on throughout the brisk two-hour plus runtime.

It’ll fall into my holiday film rotation, one that the whole family can enjoy without being put off, depressed, or bored. A fresh, impactful, and very funny drama about finding sanity in the unlikeliest of places. Payne’s touch is restraint without an ounce of showiness clouding the film’s message.

We’re all outcasts in a way, holding over until someone comes along that cares enough to look twice. My recommendation is that you give this movie a look. It’s for fans of nuanced yet unfiltered cinema. It’s for fans of Payne and Giamatti cinema, two guys who know how to get the most out of each other. It’s for anyone looking for a fresh take on being thankful at Christmas.