The Holdovers | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Alexander Payne |
Written by | David Hemingson |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Eigil Bryld |
Edited by | Kevin Tent |
Music by | Mark Orton |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Focus Features (United States) Universal Pictures (International) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 133 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $26.3 million[2][3] |
The Holdovers is a 2023 American Christmas comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne, written by David Hemingson in his feature writing debut. Set in 1970, it stars Paul Giamatti as a strict classics teacher at a New England boarding school who is forced to chaperone a handful of students with nowhere to go on Christmas break. Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa (in his film debut) respectively play a cafeteria administrator and one of the students who stays on campus.
The Holdovers premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was released in the United States by Focus Features on October 27, 2023. It received positive reviews and has grossed $23 million. The film was named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, and has received many other accolades, including Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Randolph) and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Giamatti) and received 7 British Academy Film Awards nominations, including Best Film and Director.
In December 1970, Paul Hunham is an authoritarian classics professor at Barton Academy, a New England boarding school that he once attended on scholarship. His students and fellow teachers despise him for his brutally honest grading and difficult personality. Barton's headmaster, Woodrup, scolds Hunham for having cost the academy an important donor by giving the donor's son a failing grade, which led to the donor's son being rejected from Princeton University.
As punishment, Hunham is forced to supervise the "holdover" students left on campus for the holidays, including Angus Tully, whose mother abruptly cancelled a trip to Saint Kitts to honeymoon with her new husband. Also staying behind is cafeteria administrator Mary Lamb, who is grieving the loss of her son, a Barton alumnus killed serving in the Vietnam War.
To their chagrin, Hunham imposes studying and exercise on the holdovers' break. After six days, the wealthy father of one of them arrives by helicopter and agrees to take all the students on the family's ski trip. Angus, unable to reach his parents for permission, is left alone at Barton with Hunham and Mary. When Hunham catches Angus trying to arrange a hotel room, Angus runs through the school halls while Hunham chases him. Angus defiantly leaps into a pile of gym equipment, dislocating his shoulder. At the hospital, Angus lies to protect Hunham from blame. Hunham later flirts with Lydia Crane, the assistant to the headmaster, after he and Angus encounter her at a restaurant, and she invites the pair to her Christmas Eve party.
On Christmas Eve, Angus, Hunham, Mary, and Barton's janitor, Danny, attend Lydia's party. While Angus hangs out with and kisses Lydia's niece Elise, Hunham is sad to discover that Lydia has a boyfriend, and a drunk Mary has a breakdown over her son's death. Hunham insists on leaving early. While arguing with Hunham, Angus angrily shouts that his father is dead, causing Mary to lambast Hunham for his unsympathetic approach.
Having reflected on his behavior, Hunham puts together a small Christmas celebration, and with Mary's persuasion, grants Angus's wish for a "field trip" to Boston. After dropping Mary off in Roxbury to spend time with her pregnant sister, Angus and Hunham bond over various activities in Boston, including ice skating and a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. They bump into one of Hunham's classmates from Harvard University, who has become a successful academic. When prompted, Hunham lies about his career, and Angus plays along. Hunham reluctantly confesses to Angus that he was expelled from Harvard after deliberately hitting a colleague, a legacy donor's son who framed him for plagiarism, with a car. After the incident ruined Hunham's career prospects, a connection to a teacher at Barton allowed him to secure a teaching position there.
When Hunham and Angus go to see Little Big Man at the Orpheum Theatre, Angus sneaks away and Hunham catches him entering a taxi. Angus explains he wants to see his father, and Hunham agrees to accompany him, assuming they are going to a cemetery. However, Angus's father is still alive and confined in a psychiatric hospital due to mental health issues and violent outbursts. Following the visit, Angus expresses concern that he will turn out like his father; Hunham comforts him and sincerely declares that Angus has a bright future. They join Mary and Danny to celebrate New Year's Eve.
When school resumes in January 1971, Hunham is summoned by Lydia to Woodrup's office, and finds Angus's mother and stepfather there as well. They tell Hunham that Angus's visit to the hospital was unauthorized and that the snow globe Angus had given his father led to another violent outburst. Angus's mother and stepfather plan to send Angus to military school, but Hunham defends Angus and takes the blame for the trip. While Hunham is subsequently fired, Angus is allowed to stay at Barton.
Mary, who has come to better terms with the loss of her son, gives Hunham a notebook for the monograph he wants to write. Hunham and Angus share a poignant goodbye. Leaving the school, Hunham drinks from a bottle of cognac he stole from Woodrup, then spits some of it out toward the school and drives away.
The Holdovers is the second collaboration between director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti after Sideways (2004). Payne conceived it after watching Marcel Pagnol's 1935 film Merlusse,[5] and contacted screenwriter David Hemingson, whose boarding-school television pilot he had read.[6] In June 2021, Miramax acquired the distribution rights.[7] In early 2022, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Carrie Preston joined the cast.[8][9]
Filming began in Massachusetts on January 27, 2022.[10][11][12] Location manager Kai Quinlan, who had worked on other New England-set films like Spotlight and Black Mass, drew on her Massachusetts upbringing for the film.[13] For the fictional Barton Academy, five Massachusetts schools were used as locations: Groton, Northfield Mount Hermon, Deerfield Academy, St. Mark's School and Fairhaven High School.[14] Dominic Sessa, in his first film role as Angus, attended Deerfield in the class of 2022.[15] The film also shot at the historic Somerville and Orpheum theatres, and on the Boston Common. Payne later said that capturing the 1970s aesthetic was relatively easy because "change comes slowly to New England".[16]
Main article: The Holdovers (soundtrack) |
Original music for The Holdovers was composed by Mark Orton. It also features several classic Christmas songs, and other songs from the 1970s by The Allman Brothers Band, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Labi Siffre, Badfinger, Shocking Blue, Damien Jurado, Herb Alpert, Gene Autry, Temptations, Chet Baker, Artie Shaw, and Cat Stevens. The soundtrack was released digitally by Back Lot Music on November 10, 2023, and on compact disc and vinyl on November 17.[17]
A special screening of the film was held for buyers on September 11, 2022. The next day, it was reported that Focus Features had acquired distribution rights for $30 million.[18] The film was scheduled for a limited theatrical release on November 10, 2023, followed by wide release on November 22.[19] However, it was pushed up to a limited release on October 27, followed by a wide release on November 10.[20] It is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom by Universal Pictures UK on January 19, 2024.[1]
The Holdovers's world premiere was at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023.[21][22] It also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2023, where it was runner-up for the People's Choice Award.[23][24] It was also invited to the 28th Busan International Film Festival's 'Icon' section, where it was shown on October 7, 2023.[25]
The Holdovers was released on digital platforms on November 30, 2023, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on January 2, 2024.[26]
The film made $211,093 from six theaters in its opening weekend, an average of $35,082 per venue.[27] It expanded to 64 theaters in its second weekend, making $599,833.[28] It then made $3.2 million from 778 theaters in its third weekend.[29] Continuing to expand, it made $2.7 million in both its fourth and fifth weekends.[30][31]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 302 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Beautifully bittersweet, The Holdovers marks a satisfying return to form for director Alexander Payne."[32] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score.[31]
Wesley Morris of The New York Times praised Giamatti's performance and Payne's direction, writing, "Even as the story accrues the heft of personal tragedy, each scene seems to float or bob."[34] Patrick Ryan, writing for USA Today, compared it to Frank Capra’s It's a Wonderful Life, noting that both films grapple with troubled pasts and shattered dreams at Christmastime.[35] Critics have also compared it to the films of Hal Ashby, such as Harold and Maude and The Last Detail.[36][37]
Reviews in The Boston Globe and Boston.com both praised the film's 1970s New England setting.[37][38] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that it "doesn't only have the look and feel of that time period, it resuscitates the finest elements of its narrative traditions".[39] Richard Brody, writing for The New Yorker, described The Holdovers as "a pile of clichés", but one realized "with such loving immediacy that it feels as if Payne were discovering them for himself". Brody was more critical of the time period, arguing that the "hermetically sealed, historically reduced drama" ignored the politically fraught setting of the 1970s.[40] Nonetheless, Michael Schulman, another writer for The New Yorker, included Giamatti, Sessa and Randolph in his list of the year's best performances, and considered the latter "in a prime position for the Best Supporting Actress race."[41]
Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times praised the film's "enveloping sense of time and place", but as a whole, criticized it as "a flat, phony, painfully diagrammatic movie masquerading as a compassionate, humane one." Chang said that Mary Lamb, despite Randolph's affecting performance, was "somehow the movie's most under-developed role."[36]
Filmmaker James Gray praised the film, saying "The film takes place in 1970, the first year of American history's greatest hangover. And the rhythms and look, precisely rendered, lend a bracing authenticity to the proceedings. More important, the movie recalls vividly both that era's glorious dreams and the stinging cost of idealism. These lonely souls may seem doomed, but they're still trying. And though bearing witness may not always be pretty, it is beautiful. So is The Holdovers."[42]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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AACTA International Awards | February 10, 2024 | Best International Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Pending | [43] |
Alliance of Women Film Journalists | January 4, 2024 | Best Film | The Holdovers | Nominated | [44] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | |||
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Woman's Breakthrough Performance | Nominated | ||||
Best Screenplay, Original | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director | Susan Shopmaker | Nominated | |||
American Film Institute Awards | December 7, 2023 | Top 10 Films of the Year | The Holdovers | Won[a] | [45] |
Astra Film and Creative Arts Awards | January 6, 2024 | Best Picture | The Holdovers | Nominated | [46] |
Best Director | Alexander Payne | Nominated | |||
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Dominic Sessa | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Best Cast Ensemble | The Holdovers | Nominated | |||
February 26, 2024 | Best Casting | Susan Shopmaker | Nominated | ||
Best Editing | Kevin Tent | Nominated | |||
Austin Film Critics Association Awards | January 10, 2024 | Best Film | The Holdovers | Nominated | [47] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Best Editing | Kevin Tent | Nominated | |||
The Robert R. "Bobby" McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award | Dominic Sessa | Nominated | |||
Black Reel Awards | January 16, 2024 | Outstanding Supporting Performance | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Nominated | [48] |
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | December 10, 2023 | Best Film | The Holdovers | Won | [49] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Won | |||
British Academy Film Awards | February 18, 2024 | Best Film | The Holdovers | Pending | [50] |
Best Director | Alexander Payne | Pending | |||
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Pending | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Dominic Sessa | Pending | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Pending | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Pending | |||
Best Casting | Susan Shopmaker | Pending | |||
Capri Hollywood International Film Festival | January 2, 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | [51] |
Celebration of Cinema and Television | December 4, 2023 | Supporting Actress Award (Film) | Won | [52] | |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | December 12, 2023 | Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Won | [53] |
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Most Promising Performer | Dominic Sessa | Nominated | |||
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | January 14, 2024 | Best Picture | The Holdovers | Nominated | [54] |
Best Director | Alexander Payne | Nominated | |||
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Young Actor/Actress | Dominic Sessa | Won | |||
Best Acting Ensemble | The Holdovers | Nominated | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Best Comedy | The Holdovers | Nominated | |||
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association | December 18, 2023 | Best Picture | The Holdovers | Won | [55] |
Best Director | Alexander Payne | 3rd Place | |||
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | 2nd Place | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Dominic Sessa | 5th Place | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Screenplay | David Hemingson | Won | |||
Directors Guild of America Awards | February 10, 2024 | Outstanding Directing – Feature Film | Alexander Payne | Pending | [56] |
Florida Film Critics Circle | December 21, 2023 | Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | [57] [58] |
Best Supporting Actor | Dominic Sessa | Nominated | |||
Breakout Award | Nominated | ||||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Runner-up | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Georgia Film Critics Association Awards | January 5, 2024 | Best Picture | The Holdovers | Nominated | [59] [60] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Won | |||
Best Ensemble | The Holdovers | Runner-up | |||
Golden Globe Awards | January 7, 2024 | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated | [61] | |
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Paul Giamatti | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Gotham Independent Film Awards | November 27, 2023 | Outstanding Supporting Performance | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Nominated | [62] |
Heartland International Film Festival | October 5, 2023 | Pioneering Spirit: Rising Star Award | Dominic Sessa | Won | [63] |
Independent Spirit Awards | February 25, 2024 | Best Supporting Performance | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Pending | [64] |
Best Breakthrough Performance | Dominic Sessa | Pending | |||
Best Screenplay | David Hemingson | Pending | |||
Best Cinematography | Eigil Bryld | Pending | |||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | December 10, 2023 | Best Supporting Performance | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | [65] |
Montclair Film Festival | October 30, 2023 | Audience Award - Fiction Feature | The Holdovers | Won | [66] |
National Board of Review | December 6, 2023 | Top Ten Films | The Holdovers | Won[a] | [67] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Won | |||
National Society of Film Critics Awards | January 6, 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | [68] |
Best Screenplay | David Hemingson | Runner-up[b] | |||
New York Film Critics Circle Awards | November 30, 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | [69] |
New York Film Critics Online Awards | December 15, 2023 | Top 10 Films | The Holdovers | Won[a] | [70] |
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
San Diego Film Critics Society | December 19, 2023 | Best Picture | The Holdovers | Nominated | [71] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Runner-up | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Runner-up | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Runner-up | |||
Best Ensemble | The Holdovers | Won | |||
Best Use of Music | Nominated | ||||
San Diego International Film Festival | October 22, 2023 | Audience Award - Best Gala Film | The Holdovers | Won | [72] |
Santa Barbara International Film Festival | February 10, 2024 | Virtuoso Award | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | [73] |
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards | January 9, 2024 | Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | [74] |
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Satellite Awards | February 18, 2024 | Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical | The Holdovers | Pending | [75] |
Best Director | Alexander Payne | Pending | |||
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical | Paul Giamatti | Pending | |||
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Dominic Sessa | Pending | |||
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Pending | |||
Best Screenplay, Original | David Hemingson | Pending | |||
Best Film Editing | Kevin Tent | Pending | |||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | February 24, 2024 | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role | Paul Giamatti | Pending | [76] |
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Pending | |||
Seattle Film Critics Society Awards | January 8, 2024 | Best Picture of the Year | The Holdovers | Nominated | [77] |
Best Actor in a Leading Role | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | |||
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Ensemble Cast | The Holdovers | Won | |||
Best Screenplay | David Hemingson | Won | |||
St. Louis Film Critics Association | December 17, 2023 | Best Film | The Holdovers | Nominated | [78] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Runner-up | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Dominic Sessa | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Runner-up | |||
Best Ensemble | The Holdovers | Won | |||
Best Soundtrack | Nominated | ||||
Best Comedy Film | Won | ||||
Best Editing | Kevin Tent | Nominated | |||
Toronto Film Critics Association | December 17, 2023 | Outstanding Lead Performance | Paul Giamatti | Runner-up[c] | [79] |
Outstanding Supporting Performance | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance | Dominic Sessa | Runner-up[d] | |||
Toronto International Film Festival | September 17, 2023 | People's Choice Award | The Holdovers | Runner-up | [24] |
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards | December 10, 2023 | Best Film | The Holdovers | Nominated | [80] |
Best Actor | Paul Giamatti | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Dominic Sessa | Nominated | |||
Best Youth Performance | Won | ||||
Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | |||
Best Original Screenplay | David Hemingson | Nominated | |||
Best Ensemble | The Holdovers | Nominated | |||
Women Film Critics Circle Awards | December 18, 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | Da'Vine Joy Randolph | Won | [81] |