Summary
Paul Giamatti’s Oscar-nominatedThe Holdoversfeatures a lot of surprising similarities with his weirdest movie yet. Giamatti has played a number of different characters over the course of his career, highlighting an impressive range in supporting and central roles alike. Some of his best performances have been highly acclaimed, earning him nominations for Academy Awards as well as several Emmys and Golden Globes. The nuance he brings to hisThe Holdoverscharacteris impressive, but he’s just as effective when using his considerable talents for comedy, as inPrivate PartsorSideways.
Paul Giamatti’s Oscar-nominatedThe Holdoversfeatures a lot of surprising similarities with his weirdest movies.Paul Giamatti movieshave seen him play several different characters throughout his career, highlighting an impressive range of supporting and central roles alike. Only one of his movies has seen him get completely pained blue, but that movie’s surprising similarities with one of his most critically acclaimed roles ever underscores just how effective the actor is.
Paul Giamatti’s First New Movie After Being Nominated At The Oscars Is Entirely Unexpected
Paul Giamatti’s next movie release has already been announced, and it is a really weird pick after his successes in 2023’s The Holdovers.
Paul Giamatti Works As A Mentor & A Villain To Rebellious Teens
Giamatti Works Great Against Younger Characters In Comedies & Dramas Alike
Paul Giamatti plays with surprisingly similar themes inBig Fat LiarandThe Holdovers, albeit with two very different central genres. In both films, Giamatti is positioned against a rebellious teenager. InBig Fat Liar, it’s Frankie Muniz’s Jason Shepherd, while inThe Holdoversit’s Dominic Sessa’s Angus Tully.Both movies play off Giamatti’s natural and often sudden bombast, especially when compared to a more sardonic and sarcastic young person.The HoldoversandBig Fat Liarhave very different tones, but are largely focused on the results of pairing a Giamatti character with a teenager.
Both films highlight how the young person is on the path to becoming more like Giamatti’s character. Jason’s big lies are compared directly to the fraud constantly perpetrated by Giamatti’s Marty Wolf, Meanwhile, the bitter worldview that Angus holds onto is comparable to the quietly seething bitterness at the heart of Giamatti’s Paul Hunham. Notably, both films take different approaches to this dynamic. InBig Fat Liar, Jason ultimately learns to tell the truth,implicitly diverging from the same kind of path that led Wolf to become so sleazy. By contrast,The Holdovershighlights the unexpected connection and empathy that developed between the two.
Big Fat Liar & The Holdovers Focus On Theft Of Ideas
How Two Very Different Giamatti Characters Deal With Plagiarism
BothBig Fat LiarandThe Holdoversintroduce themes of pride in writing and questions of plagiarism. Giamatti’s character is accused of it in both films, although he only openly committed it in one of them. Those elements are front and center withBig Fat Liar, which largely focuses on Jason’s efforts to force Wolf to acknowledge his theft of Jason’s story.This focus on plagiarism is central toBig Fat Liar, and plays into a major thematic element ofThe Holdovers.
Part of the backstory behind Hunham’s fall from grace involves his expulsion from Harvard. This turns out to be related to his assault of another student, who had falsely accused him of plagiarizing a paper. Plagiarism factors into both films in interesting ways, directly influencing Giamatti’s character and the way they interact with others. In an unlikely parallel between the two films, Hunham lashes out at someone who plagiarized him, much in the same wayhe played the target of a similar character inBig Fat Liar.
What’s Up With Paul Giamatti’s Eye In The Holdovers? Mr. Hunham’s Lazy Eye Detail Explained
Paul Giamatti played a strict boarding school teacher in the comedy-drama The Holdovers with some offbeat details about him, including a lazy eye.
Paul Giamatti Is One Of Hollywood’s Most Versatile Actors
How Giamatti Became One Of Hollywood’s Best Performers
Paul Giamatti has been a consistent presence in film and television for nearly three decades, delivering impressive and nuanced performances in shows likeJohn Adamsand films likethe Oscar nominatedThe Holdovers. He’s also a supremely funny actor when he wants to be, with films likeBig Fat LiarandShoot ‘Em Uphighlighting his abilityto go big and broad when the narrative calls for it. His capabilities with both highlight his talent as a performer and shows likeBillionshave found the formula to utilize both of these attributes to great effect.
The similar elements ofThe HoldoversandBig Fat Liarhighlight his versatility as an actor, as he can take similar concepts and character tropes and play them in completely different kinds of stories. Giamatti is able to play a completely grounded character and a cartoonish bad guy, making both believable within their respective stories.Big Fat LiarandThe Holdoversmay be very different movies, but their shared elements underscore how versatile and adaptable Paul Giamatti can be as a performer.
Big Fat Liar
Cast
Big Fat Liar is a family comedy directed by Shawn Levy. The film follows Jason Shepherd, a 14-year-old student whose school essay is stolen by a sleazy Hollywood producer, Marty Wolf, and turned into a blockbuster movie. Starring Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, and Paul Giamatti, the story unfolds as Jason and his friend Kaylee travel to Los Angeles to prove his authorship and expose Wolf’s fraudulent behavior.
The Holdovers
The Holdovers is a comedy-drama film starring Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a prep academy professor hated by peers and students alike. Stuck at the academy for the holidays with no family or friends to visit, he finds himself in the company of a bright-but-troublemaking young student named Angus and the school’s head cook, Mary. Together, the three will create a makeshift family as they bond during the holiday season.
