Overview
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school 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 damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
If there was a list of movies that define who you are as an appreciator of film, this movie would be on it. This film is is an absolute gem. And the fact that it achieves that heights that it does with only a very small cast, backdrop and premise is astonishing. At different times I thought that this movie would drift into themes done in other movies (Good Will Hunting comes to mind), but it never does. It managed to travel in unchartered waters and made something that felt really original.
IHATEBadMovies.com reviews The Holdovers
Movie title: The Holdovers
Movie description: A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school 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 damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
Date published: 2023-12-09
Director(s): Alexander Payne
Actor(s): Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner, Ian Dolley, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Andrew Garman, Naheem Garcia, Stephen Thorne, Gillian Vigman, Tate Donovan, Darby Lee-Stack, Bill Mootos, Dustin Tucker, Juanita Pearl, Alexander Cook, Liz Bishop, Cole Tristan Murphy, Will Sussbauer, Carter Shimp, Michael Malvesti, Dakota Lustick, Melissa McMeekin, Jonathan von Mering, Rena Maliszewski, Osmani Rodriguez, Oscar Wahlberg, Dan Aid, Mike Kaz, Kelly AuCoin, Colleen Clinton, Fred Robbins, David J. Curtis, Pamela Jayne Morgan, Davis Robinson, Joe Howell, Peter Krasinski, Greg Chopoorian, Ian Lyons, Kevin Fennessy, Kevin Daigneault, Bhanu Gopal, Quinn Stone
Genre: Comedy, Drama
My Review
If there was a list of movies that define who you are as an appreciator of film, this movie would be on it. This film is is an absolute gem. And the fact that it achieves that heights that it does with only a very small cast, backdrop and premise is astonishing. At different times I thought that this movie would drift into themes done in other movies (Good Will Hunting comes to mind), but it never does. It managed to travel in unchartered waters and made something that felt really original.
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My Review - 8.5/10
8.5/10