Directed by Alexander Payne, “The Holdovers,” is a movie involving comedy, tragedy, family and loss. The film, set in an American Christian boarding school named Barton, is directly at the beginning of Christmas break. The movie’s events take place in the 1970s, during the climax of the war in Vietnam.

As is tradition for the school, all of the students and faculty leave to spend the winter time with their family—all except for a select few. The Holdovers are children who are unable to return home to their families for the break, due to their parents not picking them up. Those students instead stay at the school along with the supervisor assigned to watch over them. 

The movie is focused around three main characters: Paul Hunham, the mean teacher who has to watch over the students, Angus Tully, a 15 year old boy who is holding over for the winter, and Mary Lamb, the school’s head lunch lady. 

As the film progresses, the three begin to enjoy each other’s company, leading to a series of inexplicable, hilarious and charming series of events to occur. The characters are loveable, entertaining, interesting and offer very good chemistry that never left me bored.

The lines that the overarching characters have as well as interactions and plot development are a pure joy to watch. You can also rely on these actors to execute their line readings and dialogue perfectly, so if a joke doesn’t land, you know it wasn’t the actors who messed up.

This movie has the traditional Christmas movie formula, yet it also adds its own spirit to the genre. The movie was filmed with a 8-year-old Alexa Mini camera in order to get a grasp on the 1970s style movie. Sometimes you can see film grain cut in and out on some of the frames. Even in the beginning of the movie they have old home movie style fonts for the opening credits. 

This movie is a very entertaining watch and is perfect for teenagers. Although it does present some topics that might be seen as inappropriate for viewers younger than 13-14, “The Holdovers” is not just a movie, but a memoir to classic films themselves in its presentation, dialogue, topics and characters.

This movie reminds me of the movie “A Christmas Carol”. The main character starts out self centered, but in the end, learns to be a better person and unites with a younger character who teaches him to come out of his shell.

This movie is innovative in its presentation, humor and storytelling. The characters all present their own spin on the story and propel and wrap the story and plot like a present. This movie offers a much needed break from all of the craziness going on in the world and is overall a must watch.