The Holdovers (2023)

User Review

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  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Alexander Payne and David Hemingson's 'The Holdovers,' is a classic character-arc drama where two belligerent people who hate each other inevitably come to learn from and understand each other.
  
  Holding down one half of the duo is a grumpy old teacher called Mr Hunham (Paul Giamatti) who's tired of making allowances for privileged boys, then the other is a difficult young student called Tulli (Dominic Sessa) who has been kicked out of multiple schools. His parents can't have him home over Christmas, so he has to spend the break at school with Mr Hunham, and initially the pair can't stop arguing. Mr Hunham wants Tully to carry on his school work, but Tully just wants to run away and have some semblance of a holiday for himself.
  
  Soon though, the school chef Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) starts to chip away at Mr Hunham's layers, and Tully starts to see some warmth beneath his hostile exterior. Eventually he sees that Mr Hunham is just another adult whose dreams went unfulfilled, whilst Mr Hunham starts to learn that Tully isn't just a privileged brat, but a child grieving the loss of his Dad to mental illness. Both have lost, and both find courage in each other's ways; Tully in Hunham's quality of not caring what others think, and Hunham in Tully's empathy and openness, and both end up changing the course of the other's life by the end.
  
  That's a lovely little exchange to watch, and it's executed very naturally not only because David Hemingson's script is so earnest, but also because the central performances are so convincing.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: It's hardly the most profound or surprising film, but for what it is, it's hard to fault.
  
  VERDICT: With its lovely character drama 'The Holdovers,' should join the pantheon of classic Christmas films for the whole family to enjoy.

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