A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
The Holdovers received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Giamatti, Best Supporting Actress for Randolph, and seven British Academy Film Awards nominations, including Best Film and Director.