This film is a joy! It’s about 25 minutes too long at 2 hours 13 minutes but otherwise I highly recommend it.
Paul Giamatti plays a grumpy, principled high school history teacher Mr Hunham who draws the short straw and has to stay at school over the Christmas holidays to supervise the boarding students who don’t have anywhere to go. To cut to the chase, the small student group whittles down to just one, a cheeky kid called Angus whose story winds up being way more complicated than Mr Hunham or anyone could have predicted. They form a bond of sorts along with the school caterer Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) who is also around for the Christmas holidays to cook for them. Randolph steals the show in this - she gets some good gags to deliver and also has her own moving story that emerges.
The Holdovers is rated M and in cinemas now. Here’s a four star review if you want to read more.