When is a Christmas movie not a Christmas movie?
When it's 'The Holdovers'.
Alexander Payne's retro comedy drama has all the ingredients of a perfect Festive Season watch.
But the truth is it's a good movie to see any time of the year.
Reuniting Payne with his 'Sideways' lead actor Paul Giamatti, the Connecticut actor plays Paul Hunham, a disaffected, Jim Beam swigging classics teacher with a lazy eye.
The New England boarding school Paul is employed in, Barton Academy educates mostly entitled rich kids who he despises.
Among them is Dominic Sessa's Angus Tully who is smart but has a troubled history in the schools he has previously attended.
Angus has issues with authority but he also clashes frequently with Brady Hepner's arrogant fellow student Teddy Kountze.
With Christmas approaching, he's looking forward, though, to joining his mum in St Kitts with her new man.
Paul is hoping to get away top from Barton but is outmanoeuvred by his colleagues into staying behind with pupils who aren't able to go home during the Festive Season.
As a punishment for not giving a US Senator's son the grade that would have got him into Princeton, he is tasked by Andrew Garman's headmaster Dr Hardy Woodrup with looking after the school's "Holdovers".
On the day when his classmates are leaving Barton for home, Angus is let down by his mum who cancels plans for him to join her in St Kitts and asks him to stay in the school instead.
There are four fellow Holdovers - Teddy Kountze, Michael Provost's school football team quarterback Jason Smith, Jim Kaplan's Korean international student Ye-Joon Park and Ian Dolley's Mormon Alex Ollerman.
Cooking for them during their stay is Da'Vine Joy Randolph's cafeteria manager Mary Lamb whose son, Curtis was a former student who recently lost his life while serving in Vietnam.
Facing his charges for the first time, Paul insists on a strict regime of study time and exercise during the boys' break, meals in the dining hall and lights out in the dorms at night.
True to form Teddy bullies Alex, while Angus shows compassion to Ye-Joon Park one night when he hears him weeping.
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After six days in captivity at Barton, the boys are stunned when Jason's dad arrives in the school by helicopter, offering to take the kids to a ski lodge for the rest of the Christmas break.
To go, each boy's parents must indicate they are content with their sons joining Jason's family.
However Paul is unable to contact Angus's mum and he has to remain behind at Barton while the others head off to the ski lodge.
A battle of wits ensues as Angus tries to push the boundaries of staying with Paul - attempting to book a hotel room and then impulsively running through the school until he dislocates his shoulder in the gym.
Forced together with Mary over Christmas, will the trio forge an unlikely bond and get up to all kinds of mischief?
Like the very best of Payne's movies, 'The Holdovers' is a wonderfully observed comedy drama.
It's also a terrific throwback to the halcyon days of the 1970s character driven comedies Hollywood studios used to make.
Shot on digital cameras, cinematographer Eigil Bryld manages to give it the grainy look of the era it depicts.
In fact, you'd swear the film had been made by a contemporary of Hal Ashby or Bob Rafelson's.
However it is the quality of David Hemingson's writing and of the acting that really shines.
Giamatti is superb as the disaffected Mr Hunham - an intelligent, socially awkward man who you feel should have gone on to greater academic achievements but has somehow lost his way.
Sessa impresses as Angus - a clever kid who is nursing a lot of wounds from a dysfunctional upbringing and who has a taste for challenging authority.
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Randolph is terrific as a grieving mother who appears to be stoically going about her business but is really struggling to come to terms with the loss of her son.
Not only do the central trio have a blast with Hemingson's well crafted script but it also brings the best out of Garman, Hepner, Provost, Kaplan, Dolley and other supporting players.
Carrie Preston is perfect as a sweet natured member of staff, Lydia Crane who Paul has a crush on, while Naheem Garcia is sweet natured as the school janitor Danny.
Less 'Dead Poets' Society's and more like 'The Last Detail,' 'Harold and Maude' or 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest,' 'The Holdovers' is a welcome return to form by Payne.
It's the kind of film Hollywood studios should be making.
With the support of Miramax and Focus Features, Payne makes a compelling case for more grown up comedies to wind up on our big screens just like they used to in the 1970s and 80s.
It's laugh out loud funny, cerebral and also touching and it's a world away from the puerile nonsense that is sometimes fed to audiences as comedy.
It also works because Payne knows how to helm this sort of film.
Rather than draw attention to himself, the director unobtrusively steers the movie, letting his actors shine and not missing a comic beat.
The Nebraskan delivers plenty of laugh out moments that will be treasured for many years to come.
Long may indie production companies and streamers support this kind of film.
But please Hollywood studios, can we have some from you?
('The Holdovers' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on January 19, 2024)
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