Getting on the list of best Christmas Movies is a tough task, and it feels rare that the public willingly admits one into that coveted territory despite studios offering up new movies every year. It's hard to quantify what makes a great holiday movie, especially when the list is as eclectic as emotional classics like It's A Wonderful Life and goofier stuff like Jingle All The Way. That said, I rewatched the 2023 release The Holdovers this holiday season with my Prime subscription, and I think it's worth including in this hallowed territory.
The 2023 dramedy received plenty of Oscar nominations following its release, and a year later, it deserves another accolade for being a holiday movie with incredible rewatch value. As readers check out the 2024 Christmas schedule and watch their favorites, I think this one deserves a watch.
The Holdovers Reminds Us That Not Every Christmas Is Great, But That's Ok
I'm sure we all remember the worst Christmas we ever had, and if you're like me, you don't like to dwell on it. The holiday season should be joyous, or at least that's the way it can make us feel sometimes. If you're someone not feeling it during the season, it can be a real drag and bring you down even more on a Blue Christmas.
The Holdovers leans into the bummer aspect of the holidays hard and zeroes in on three people who are forced to spend time together despite not really wanting to spend Christmas break with anybody. There's a kid abandoned by his mother and his step-father on their holiday, a grumpy teacher who never found love, and a grieving mother who lost her son recently.
There's no way around it, this is a sad Christmas movie, but some of the best of the genre are sad. It's A Wonderful Life, Jack Frost, The Holiday, the list goes on. I'll boldly state that if you're looking for a modern classic for Christmas that is also emotional and sad, this is the option. The Holdovers is as good as every Oscar nomination it received, and damn good, even if it is sad. The critics all agreed back when it was first released, this is worth watching.
Through The Sadness, It Hits On An Important Message Of The Holidays Worth Remembering
What makes up for the sadness and depressing moments in The Holdovers is that a beautiful message shines through. Even in the worst of times, Christmas can inspire even the most unlikely people to be decent to each other and help their fellow man.
There's something I really love about the chronically hungover asshole teacher trying his absolute best to make the holidays better for his disruptive, but bright student. He's slowly breaking down that barrier of being an educator who takes great pride in the rules and learning to see a student as a human being as opposed to a rich, privileged youth who never knew struggle in his life.
There's a very real transformation that happens in this movie between Paul Giamatti's Paul Hunham and Dominic Sessa's Angus Tully. Do these two bond on the level they did if they weren't forced to spend the holidays together driving each other crazy? The Holdovers leads us to believe so given their adversarial relationship at the start of the movie when he believes he'll be going home for Christmas break.
Fantastic Performances From Paul Giamatti And Da'Vine Joy Randolph Sends This Over The Top
Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph both received Oscar nominations for The Holdovers, but Randolph's positive Oscar buzz for Mary turned into her onstage psyched about that big win. I think anyone who has seen it can confirm that it's well-deserved, as she captures the pain of being a grieving person during the holidays perfectly. Everyone can relate to that first Christmas without a loved one, and the closer they are to you, the harder it can be.
Paul Giamatti is one of those actors that before you even watch the movie, you know he's going to put on a helluva performance. He's been the pinnacle of consistency in Hollywood for years, and even if the script isn't great, he's on fire in whatever he's doing. When the script is good, and I've been clear enough that The Holdovers is good, something special happens there. I think this movie will ultimately go down as one of the most celebrated performances of his long career, and that's really saying something.
You also have to give it up for Dominic Sessa, whose career has really took off after The Holdovers. He's gone from being a relatively unknown actor in the industry to being picked to play the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain for a biopic. Honestly, his Angus Tully is so great, you could've sworn you'd seen Sessa in something before. If his career takes off like I feel it might, this movie is going to be solidified even more as a classic.
If not for Sessa, Giamatti or Randolph, The Holdovers should live on as a Christmas classic. As I mentioned at the beginning of this, however, I'm not the person who can solely declare it. All I can be is a herald online speaking to its quality, and I hope that the masses start talking it up. Perhaps eventually, it'll start getting worked into to the television rotation of Christmas movies on yearly or get its on 24/7 marathon like A Christmas Story and others. Ok, maybe that's a bit ambitious, but I do think there are a lot more people who would love this movie if they took the plunge and checked it out.
Again, if you're looking to stream The Holdovers right now, you can stream over on Prime Video if you have an Amazon Prime subscription. It's worth getting one if you don't, seeing as the holidays are near and it's always nice to have a gift delivered as soon as possible.
