PREMISE
A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go.
THE GOOD STUFF
PAUL GIAMATTI- For the better part of the last 10 years he’s been playing a very flashy character named Chuck Rhodes on a wonderful Showtime show called billions. He’s been playing that role for so long that audiences who were already familiar with him may forget that he is an Oscar-nominated actor who specializes in quirky low-key yet commanding performances in films such as American splendor, WIN WIN, private life, and sideways.
In a perfect world, Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne would be on their 7th or 8th film together. Real peanut butter and jelly kind of vibes here with those two. One of his best performances.
THE 3RD ACT- One of the reasons I’m such a fan of Alexander Payne’s work is that I can’t really think of any of his films that didn’t have at least a satisfactory ending, and this one is amongst his best. The way this movie sticks the landing and shows just how far these characters have come from when we first meet them is truly satisfying.
DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH- If you ask me all three of the lead performances in this film should generate some buzz for some awards come next spring, but Randolph most of all. I’ve seen her in a number of things up until this point, and mostly it’s been very loud and very blustery (respectfully) but here she underplays this role in comparison to other films she’s done and it fits the material so perfectly it’s hard not to admire every scene that she’s in due to how heartbreaking this performance truly is.
She’s so good in this film that I truly believe that this kind of a thing might be her real wheelhouse and not the goofy stuff (again, respectfully) that she has built her name upon up until this point.
THE AESTHETIC- The term world-building is usually credited to the really expensive epic types of films and television shows. When one praises something that does “world-building” it is usually because you can see where every cent of what usually is a nine-figure budget goes in terms of things like sets, CGI, and the like. THE HOLDOVERS is a film that checks all of the criteria and is worthy of praise for a film that does absolutely thorough world-building but in the most low-key way possible. This movie looks like something like John Avildsen would have done in the mid-seventies. This movie never stops feeling as if this was made in a different time, and just recently got dug out of a capsule to be shown to the public or something. It is quite lovely to watch.
THE BAD STUFF
THE 2ND ACT- If I were to get knit-picky, I would say that the first 45 minutes of this film or so is a different movie from what it becomes after a number of characters just… disappear and go away. This is of course for a reason, but even still the absence of these characters can be a little bit jarring. There’s also a sequence at a house party that goes too long and you possibly could have cut the running time down at that point given the fact that there are really only two scenes that are vital to the rest of the story.
THE UGLY STUFF
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This is one of the best films of the year. I don’t know if it’s a top 10 film or not, I’d have to go over it in my mind and quite possibly see this for a second time in order to make that distinction. However, it is not overstating things to say that this is one of the very best Alexander Payne films that’s out there. Payne is so good at showing the arc of broken people becoming better versions of themselves through goofy yet realistic circumstances.
One of the more pleasant surprises of 2023.
THE HOLDOVERS is in theaters now