There's an element of predictability in The Holdovers. It's pretty obvious that the mean teacher Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) will turn out to be at the very least not so mean. But what got uncovered about him as the film went along was completely unexpected. The same goes for the young Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa). And the way each layer was peeled off was so delightful. There is zero pretense in the film, yet says so much. It's simple, yet complex. Sad, yet full of light. And I loved how the story of Curtis Lamb that seemed unrelated at first turned out to be the subtle throughline of the film.
Review of The Holdovers
