Oscars.watch

Reviews

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times:

[The Holdovers] is set in 1970 and actually looks like it was made in 1970, from the scratchy opening titles through the grainy-looking visuals.

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair:

The boys of Barton Academy, a stony old New England prep school, are planning to head home — or to some fabulous vacation destination. All save for a few students, who have been temporarily orphaned by circumstance.

A grumpy ancient history teacher, Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti), has been tasked with watching the handful of boys who have to stay at school through New Year’s.

Lillian Crawford, Little White Lies:

Payne’s pitch-perfect pacing allows both Hunham and Tully to soften before our eyes, crafting a hilarious and moving teacher-student relationship.

Dana Stevens, Slate:

In addition to being funny as hell, Giamatti is a brilliant dramatic actor, and he invests his [character's] withering remarks with a French pastry's worth of layers.

David Fear, Rolling Stone:

He’s an artist who can make a symphony out of playing 12 different notes of pathetic, and make every dissonant suite sound natural.

David Sims, The Atlantic:

[Dominic] Sessa, giving his first-ever screen performance, is all raw nerviness, but [Da'Vine Joy] Randolph might be the film’s most triumphant performance.

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press:

Randolph adds turbulent emotion to what could have been a tertiary, one-note character consumed in grief.