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The Holdovers

The 100 Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

The Holdovers

2023

Alexander Payne

Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston ...

7.3

11,218

Comedy. Drama Nobody likes teacher Paul Hunham -not his students, not his fellow faculty, not the headmaster, who all find his pomposity and rigidity exasperating. With no family and nowhere to go over Christmas holiday in 1970, Paul remains at school to supervise students unable to journey home. After a few days, only one student holdover remains -a trouble-making 15-year-old named Angus, a good student whose bad behavior always threatens to get him ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"It's the warmest cinematic experience you'll have all year (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A charming comedy (...) it’s a sensitively acted and delicately written comedy-drama that has a life all of its own. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Peter Debruge Variety	"A film about class and race, grief and resentment, opportunity and entitlement. It’s that rare exception to the oft-heard complaint that “they don’t make ’em like they used to."
		Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"If you liked 'Sideways' you’ll likely find lots to love in this one. (...) The movie is genuinely funny. The characters are well rounded."
		Stephen Farber The Hollywood Reporter	"An Imperfect but Rewarding Campus Dramedy (...) it is an engaging and often touching comic drama that builds power as it moves toward its immensely satisfying conclusion."
		Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Featuring excellent supporting performances, 'The Holdovers' is crushingly wistful in precisely the way moviegoers have come to expect from Payne"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"[It] is a consistently smart, funny movie (...) Its greatest accomplishment is not how easy it is to see yourself in Paul, Angus, or Mary. It’s that you will in all three (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Maureen Lee Lenker Entertainment Weekly	"A warm hug of a movie and the closest thing we've had to a new holiday classic in quite some time"
		Mark Hanson Slant	"Alexander Payne’s film is subtly attuned to the way that class constricts people’s lives (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"Richly satisfying film (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"A tale of three loners, suffused with tenderness (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"
		Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"'The Holdovers' means to send you out of the theater exuding holiday cheer and possibly some renewed faith in humanity, but all that lingers, really, is an overpowering whiff of self-satisfaction. It reeks of insincerity"
		Matthew Monagle Austin Chronicle	"[It] is a warm blanket on a sad day (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Maxwell Rabb Chicago Reader	"It blends feel-good and sorrowful themes thoughtfully to make a rewatchable flick"
		Nick De Semlyen Empire	"Hunham’s hero Marcus Aurelius once wrote, 'Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing'. Take his advice and see this film (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"It’s a bittersweet callback to a golden age when there were a whole lot more movies like this one (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Robbie Collin Telegraph	"Paul Giamatti shines in Alexander Payne’s best film since 'Sideways' (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		John Serba Decider	"I’ve seen 'The Holdovers' three times already. It’s a lovely film, and likely a soon-to-be Christmas classic"
		Pete Hammond Deadline	"It is funny, sad, witty, poignant, filled with snark and heart and great acting. It also manages to be a film set at the holidays that offers something truly new for the genre"
		David Fear Rolling Stone	"It gives Paul Giamatti is best movie role since 'Sidheways'"
		Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"Funny and rueful, 'The Holdovers' seems beamed in from another time in cinema history, when wordy and thoughtful little movies like this were in healthier supply"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"A sensitive but slightly underwhelming throwback"
		Ethan Vestby The Film Stage	"For how it captures the ambiance of walking out of a liquor store and down a wintry street a few days after Christmas, 'The Holdovers' makes for the ideal annual holiday revisit"
		Nick Schager The Daily Beast	"Its sentimentality expertly balanced by its humor, 'The Holdovers' is a story about the lies we tell ourselves (for good and ill) and the reality of our not-so-dissimilar human conditions"
		Barry Levitt SlashFilm	"'The Holdovers' is proof that we need more thoughtful, studied, loving, and irresistible human stories on screen"
		Ross Bonaime Collider	"A wonderful revelation from an excellent director who proves he's still able to take us by surprise"
		Siddhant Adlakha IGN	"Paul Giamatti has never been better, playing a caricatured grump with dynamic and vulnerable layers"
		Tomris Laffly The Wrap	"'The Holdovers' doesn't exactly feel like a new classic —it feels too familiar for that. Still, it does something tried-and-true so well and affectionally"
		Chris Bumbray JoBlo	"Hilarious and heartwarming, this is one of Alexander Payne's best films"

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