The Holdovers (2023)

The Holdovers is about a teacher, student, and cook stuck together over Christmas break.

The writing from David Hemingson is really on a different level than much of what I've seen lately. While the movie lacks in keeping your attention from a directorial perspective it makes up for with interesting characters, dynamics, and immersion into the year 1970. The odd thing about this film is that Hemingson is better known as a producer than a writer and for this to be his first writing duty for a full-length feature film, it's pretty impressive. He was the producer of one of my favorite shows called Lie to Me, but he was also the producer for How I Met Your Mother, and Just Shoot Me!

Dominic Sessa plays the student who is abandoned for Christmas break. His character is written in such a way that makes you believe that he's a seventies kid and not just some actor. It was great but it was Paul Giamatti who plays the teacher and displays his seasoned acting skills. He plays a completely unlikable lecture-bound teacher who has the most character arc in the film. This was Dominic Sessa's first anything, not even a TV show. Paul Giamatti has been in everything from 12 Years A Slave to Cinderella Man.

While the film has interesting characters the film can be difficult to sit through if you aren't invested in those characters. I imagine viewers with a lesser attention span would hate this film. It's probably best to watch this without distractions. Result: B

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