“The Holdovers” stars Paul Giamatti and will be showing at the Opera House on Saturday and Tuesday.

The Cinema Series at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center kicks off 2024 with “The Holdovers,” starring Paul Giamatti. It will be screened on Saturday and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, “The Holdovers” follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Giamatti) at a New England prep school who 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 (newcomer Dominic Sessa) – and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

The Chicago Sun Times says “20 years after Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti teamed up for ‘Sideways,’ they’re reunited for the wintry character study, with Giamatti once again turning in masterful work as a hard-tippling misanthrope.” Baltimore Magazine calls the film “wry, funny (with some zingers that will stay with you long after the film is over).” CNN.com calls it “very funny, occasionally touching and a sterling example of the bonds that can be forged by an unlikely family.” Rated R for some drug use, language and brief sexual material, “The Holdovers” runs two hours, 13 mins.

Tickets are available at the door for $7 (adults), $6.50 (seniors & Opera House members) and $5 (students) the night of each screening. The Opera House is equipped with assistive listening headsets for the hearing-impaired. Simply request one from any usher or staff member.

The Opera House Cinema Series is generously sponsored by Lake Shore Savings Bank. In addition, Opera House programming is made possible by the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center is a member-supported not-for-profit performing arts center with a mission to “present the performing arts for the benefit of our community and region … providing access to artistic diversity … and high quality programming at an affordable price.” It is located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.