THE HOLDOVERS
IMDb Rating
230K+
IMDb Votes
97%
Rotten Tomatoes
$46M
Box Office
Synopsis & Review
Set at a New England boarding school over Christmas break in 1970, The Holdovers follows Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a bitter, wall-eyed classics teacher despised by students and colleagues alike, who draws the short straw of supervising the handful of boys with nowhere else to go over the holidays. As the group whittles down to just one student, the troubled but sharp Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa, in his film debut), Paul and the school's head cook, Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) — grieving her son, recently killed in Vietnam — form an unlikely, prickly, ultimately tender surrogate family over two empty weeks on campus.
Alexander Payne, reuniting with his Sideways star Giamatti, makes a film that deliberately looks and feels like it was made in the era it's set — grainy film stock, an aged Universal logo, zoom lenses, needle-drops instead of an original score. But the throwback aesthetic isn't a gimmick; it serves a genuinely melancholy, character-driven story about three lonely people finding unexpected company in each other's grief and isolation. Giamatti's Hunham is cutting and self-loathing but never a cartoon; Randolph, in a performance that won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, carries the film's emotional gravity almost silently. The Holdovers doesn't reach for big dramatic turns — its power is in patient observation, dry humor, and a genuine warmth that sneaks up on you.
Why Watch This Movie?
Paul Giamatti's Best Role Since Sideways
Giamatti's Paul Hunham is cutting, self-pitying, and quietly wounded — a performance many critics called the best of his career, earning him a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Oscar-Winning Performance
As grieving cook Mary Lamb, Randolph delivers the film's emotional anchor with remarkable restraint, winning the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress.
A Film Built Like It's From 1970
Payne shot the film on period-accurate film stock with an intentionally aged studio logo and zoom-heavy 1970s camera style, making it one of the most convincing throwback productions of the decade — without ever feeling like a gimmick.
Cast & Crew
Director
Alexander Payne
Screenplay
David Hemingson
Studio
Focus Features / Miramax
Paul Hunham
Paul Giamatti
Mary Lamb
Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Angus Tully
Dominic Sessa
Setting
New England, 1970
Filming Location
Massachusetts
Prior Collaboration
Payne & Giamatti — Sideways (2004)
Official Trailer
© Focus Features / Miramax. Trailer embedded via YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Holdovers actually an old film, or made to look like one?
It's a brand-new 2023 production made to deliberately look like a film shot and released in the early 1970s. Payne used period-accurate film stock, vintage zoom lenses, an artificially aged Universal logo built specifically for the film, and a soundtrack of needle-drops rather than an original score, all to make it feel like a lost classic from the era it depicts.
Was The Holdovers accused of plagiarism?
In March 2024, a writer connected to the animated film Luca publicly alleged similarities between that film's unproduced source material and The Holdovers' premise and character dynamics. The claim generated news coverage but did not result in any confirmed legal finding of plagiarism against the filmmakers.
Is this Dominic Sessa's first movie?
Yes — The Holdovers marks Dominic Sessa's film debut. Payne cast him after seeing him in a school theater production while location-scouting at Deerfield Academy, one of the film's shooting locations, and his performance as Angus Tully earned widespread critical praise for a first-time screen actor.
Is The Holdovers a good Christmas movie to watch every year?
Many critics have already compared it to genre staples like It's a Wonderful Life for its blend of loneliness, grief, and holiday warmth, and it's been widely embraced as an instant addition to the Christmas movie canon. Its bittersweet, grown-up tone sets it apart from more conventional festive comfort watches, but that's exactly what's made it a rewatchable favorite for many viewers.
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