‘The Holdovers’ REVIEW: A Heartwarming But Mildly Underwhelming Dramedy
‘The Holdovers’ REVIEW: A Heartwarming But Mildly Underwhelming Dramedy
Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers. Still courtesy of Focus Features.
Christmas, as they say, is the most wonderful time of the year. It is, after all, the time for glowing hearts, holiday greetings, and happy meetings with friends and loved ones. In its immediate aftermath, we have the new year, which promises fresh beginnings and new possibilities for us to seize. Yet, one thing I have noticed as I get older is that Christmas and the new year get more melancholic with each year that passes.
For adults, Christmas was once a joyful occasion that now feels burdensome because the myths that we made up in our heads as children now lay shattered under the unbearable weight of reality and responsibility. As for the new year, it has become a yearly reminder that time does not care for us and that it will pass us by whether we like it or not. In this gloomy season, right at the peak of the cold New England winter and stuck in an empty prep school during holiday break, is where we find The Holdovers' dysfunctional trio.
Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) and Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) in The Holdovers. Still courtesy of Focus Features.
There's Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a Classics professor who’s also a douchebag extraordinaire, detested by his students and shunned by his peers for his hatefulness that’s as intense as his love for Greek mythology and Roman history. Then there's the wise ass Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a troubled student whose headstrong personality always puts him in conflict with other students and his parents. Lastly, we have Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), the calm and resilient cook at the school, who is grieving her little Lamb, a son lost to America's infamous war of attrition in Vietnam. In the time the three are together, they form an unlikely bond that thaws out their icy personas and reveal their true feelings as they learn how to truly celebrate the holidays.
While its coming-of-age narrative about grief and loneliness offers nothing new, the undeniable chemistry and incredible performances from the cast are enough to give the film a warm, beating heart. Paul Giamatti is completely attuned to the hilarity and tragedy of the curmudgeonly Hunham, while Dominic Sessa holds his own against him in a career-making performance as the sullen Tully. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, on the other hand, offers a much-needed reprieve from the constant bickering of the two and acts as the glue who keeps it all together with her award-winning motherly portrayal of Mary Lamb. The acting that Randolph puts on display here really is awe-inspiring, which is why it is mildly disappointing that she wasn’t given enough of a spotlight to shine.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb. Still courtesy of Focus Features.
What transpires with Paul and Angus as they deal with their own emotional maladies is compelling to watch, but I can't help but be underwhelmed with how the film handles Mary, who, in my opinion, had the most fascinating story to tell. For a movie that brings up how Vietnam exposed the disparity between social classes that sent the kids of the working class to become cannon fodder in America’s war machine, it does not seem to be interested in the character most affected by it. It instead relegates her into a corner during the third act, never to be seen until we are near the end, while the other protagonists go on a trip of incidental self-discovery and growth in Boston. It's as if her grief is too simple to warrant any more screen time, so it unsatisfyingly ties up her story without any meaningful catalyst leading up to it.
But that's not to say that the film was terrible. While The Holdovers may have its shortcomings in the character study of its three lonesome protagonists, it finds strength in its quick-witted, incisive, and endlessly quotable script that strikes the perfect chord between humor and heart. Not to mention the production design by Ryan Warren Smith that impeccably evokes the Nixon era and Eigil Bryld’s nostalgic, eye-candy cinematography that balances classic with modern.
It would also be difficult not to get swept up by the emotional odyssey of the characters as they push through their disappointments and feel relief at where they would all end up. Hunham once stated in the film, “There are no new human experiences,” which was proven wrong in the film as he goes on his journey, but kind of makes sense for the viewing experience as an audience. We feel empathy for them as they go through the worst time of their lives because what they are enduring could happen or have already happened to us, which is a testament to the film’s universality. No matter how divided we can get, we will always somehow root for and have each other. As Hunham quotes Cicero, “Non nobis solum nati sumus,” or when translated to English, “Not for ourselves alone are we born.” I’d like to think that he was right.
The Holdovers is now on its limited theatrical run exclusively at Ayala Malls cinemas.
