‘The Holdovers’: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph & Dominic Sessa Discuss Their Acclaimed Throwback Drama [Exclusive]

“Discomfort and joy,” what a tremendously fitting tagline for “The Holdovers,” the new Alexander Payne film that takes place over the holidays. We haven’t updated our Best Christmas Movies of All Time list in a while—it was created years ago—but Payne’s “The Holdovers” would be a fitting addition to it. Set in the 1970s and highly influenced by filmmaker Hal Ashby (“Harold And Maude,” “The Last Detail”), “The Holdovers” is an entertaining but also melancholy wintry tale about a trio of an unlikely collection of people who are trapped together during the holidays (read our review).

The film centers on a cranky history teacher (Paul Giamatti) at a remote prep school, Barton, who is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student (newcomer Dominic Sessa) who has no place to go and a family that doesn’t really want to spend time with him (the mom is divorced and spending the holidays with her new husband who the boy detests). Also staying behind during the holidays is the cafeteria administrator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is grieving the loss of her son, a Barton alumnus killed serving in the Vietnam War.

“The Holdovers” is the perfect holiday movie in that it’s comedic and fun, but it has that underlying element of sadness that makes it all the more humanistic and soulful. One could argue “The Holdovers” and its gentle melancholy mixed with his biting hilarity is like a live-action “Charlie Brown” Christmas special come to life, at least in that particular happy/sad wistful tone.

We named “The Holdovers” one of the Best Movies of 2023 and put Sessa and Randolph on our list of the Best Performances of 2023. Come Oscar nomination time, don’t be surprised to see the film earn several nods; it’s the type of movie the Academy loves, and the way it perfectly recreates that 1970s look is something many craftspeople will totally admire. “The Holdovers” is in theaters now, and we’ve got three exclusive interview clips with each of the three cast members below.

“The Holdovers” also arrives digitally today, December 29. The Blu-Ray and DVD will be available on January 2, 2024, via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.