The Holdovers
2023 · 2h 13m · Drama, Comedy
Watch this tonight—it's a gem that hits all the emotional beats without being sappy, mixing genuine laughs with real heart. The premise of unlikely bonds forming during a lonely Christmas break is comfort-food cinema done right, and it's exactly what you need when you want something that feels both intimate and deeply human.
Plot
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.
Director: Alexander Payne
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner
