The Holdovers

2023 Drama | Comedy
77%

Barton Academy boarding school teacher Paul Hunham incurs the wrath of headmaster Dr Hardy Woodrup by failing the son of a powerful senator. As punishment, Woodrup selects Paul to remain on campus over Christmas to chaperone the boys who won't be travelling home for the holidays. Alexander Payne's comedy drama, starring Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa

Our Review

by Brian Lloyd
Star Rating:

'The Holdovers' is downbeat comedy at its finest

Christmas, 1970. In a remote boarding school in Massachusetts, curmudgeonly teacher Paul Hunnham (Paul Giamatti) is left to tend to the students that are holding over the holiday period. As some eventually leave on an impromptu skiing trip, Paul remains with the school's head chef, Mary (Da'vine Joy Randolph) and Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), an angry student whose mother (Gillian Vigman) has effectively abandoned him in the school while she enjoys a honeymoon in St. Kitts. Forced to live together, the trio begin to thaw their icy exteriors...

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