The Holdovers · reception & legacy
2023 · Alexander Payne
How The Holdovers has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Landed at Telluride 2023 as Alexander Payne's comeback after Downsizing, rode warm reviews to five Oscar nominations — and then did something rarer: within a single year it settled into the annual Christmas-rewatch canon, an 'instant classic' arc most films need decades to earn.
What's debated
The recurring fight is whether it's a genuinely great film or immaculately executed 70s cosplay — nostalgia-bait with vintage logos — plus a smaller flare-up over screenwriter Simon Stephenson's plagiarism accusation against David Hemingson in early 2024.
Its footprint
It's become shorthand for the modern comfort-watch Christmas movie, boosted by Paul Giamatti's ornate period insults and the viral image of Giamatti eating at In-N-Out in a tux right after his Golden Globes win — Sideways fans savoured the Payne–Giamatti reunion nineteen years on.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd darling and fast-tracked Christmas-canon entry — the rare 2020s film people already talk about as a December tradition.
Named by the director
Influences Alexander Payne has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.
- Merlusse (1935) — Payne said seeing Marcel Pagnol's film about a teacher stuck at school with boys over the holidays gave him the premise, which he then pitched to David Hemingson.
- Hal Ashby — Payne cited Ashby and the character-driven American cinema of the early 1970s as the register he wanted the film to live in — down to making it look like it was actually made in 1970.