The Holdovers * * * ½

The angry student, the  jaded master and the sad cook say, Merry F***ing Christmas!

I am late in seeing this.  From the trailers, I thought it looked stereotyped and I wasn't going to bother with it, even though I am a fan of Paul Giamatti.   

Giamatti is a fascinating actor.  No one could accuse him of trading on his good looks but his screen presence is always magnetic.  For some reason the camera loves him.

Having rudely ignored it, it took me a while to realise it is done by the same director who gave us Sideways and About Schmidt, both of which are very fine films from about twenty years ago.  He also wrote and directed Election and any man who would promote and stand by Kumiko the Treasure Hunter is alright by me!

These days Alexander Payne mostly sits in the producer's chair, but he has chosen to write and direct this film.

It's set in the nineteen seventies at a private school.  Sometimes it's hard to be sympathetic to people from such snotty places, but they are always good to look at, with their rooms of dark polished wood, leadlight windows, and traditional staff.

Giamatti plays one such member of staff and he's about as popular with the students as the detention he likes to dish out.  His colleagues don't like him either.  In fact his only friend seems to be the bottle.  He drawers the short straw for The Holdover which is the master who has to stay at the school over the Christmas period to look after the few unfortunate boys that can't go home for one reason or another, 

The school cook is a voluntary Holdover.  She's still grieving for a son she lost in the Vietnam war and she's not much interested in celebrating Christmas with anyone.   

Circumstances give four of the five detained boys a reprieve, leaving only one.  (Yeah, I know you can see this coming) after locking horns for weeks the master and the difficult student learn something from each other.  But it's a good story where both of them surprise each other, and us, with a deeper sense of honor.

Yes, from time to sentimental time, your worst expectations of this story are fulfilled, but to be honest they are mostly undermined with a surprise twist or unexpected charm.

It's a good drama and worth seeing, and not just for the acting of Paul Giamatti.