The Holdovers follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti, Billions) at a prestigious American school who 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 wayward, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) – and with the school’s head cook Mary, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Only Murders in the Building).
This supremely charming, deeply human story of an unlikely found family has all the hallmarks of an instant comedy classic. Reuniting with his Sideways director Alexander Payne, Paul Giamatti delivers what may well be the performance of his career – and his partners in crime Randolph and Sessa have both garnered deserved awards praise for their similarly extraordinary turns in this authentically textured, 70s-flavoured festive feel-good gem.
★★★★★
TOTAL FILM
★★★★★
EMPIRE
★★★★★
HEAT
★★★★
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
★★★★
DAILY MAIL
★★★★
THE GUARDIAN