‘The Holdovers is shaping up to be a big player this awards season’
Actor Paul Giamatti does grouchy characters so well; in a way that makes you laugh, and want to hug him. Having starred in 2004’s wine region comedy Sideways, he’s reuniting with the film’s director, Alexander Payne, for this smart, funny, nostalgic drama set in the 1970s. Originally planned for a Christmas release, it’s shaping up to be a big player this awards season.
Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a teacher at a New England boys’ boarding school, where most of the kids go home for Christmas. But a handful of unfortunate ‘holdovers’ are stuck at school, and Paul is given the job of babysitting. When a rich daddy arrives in a helicopter to whisk away most of them, only teenager Angus (Dominic Sessa) remains. And so begins a story of bickering and – eventually – bonding between two strong personalities, both damaged in their own ways.