History YMMV / TheHoldovers

* TheWoobie: Mary is a nicer person than either Paul or Angus, and has also dealt with the most painful loss of all: [[spoiler: Her son Curtis, whom she'd sacrificed a lot for in order to give a better life, was drafted into the army after graduating from Barton because she couldn't afford to pay for college, and he could attend on the GI Bill if he served in the military, and was subsequently killed in Vietnam]]. She is still grieving the loss, but remains a kind, thoughtful person despite it.

** Similarly, is Dr. Woodrup truly an irredeemable {{Jerkass}}, or just a DesignatedVillain in the film? He does seem condescending towards Hunham, and even his secretary seems to despise him. On the other hand, it was Woodrup who decided to make Hunham a full faculty member rather than an underpaid adjunct despite Hunham's lack of a college degree. The worst we see Woodrup do is pressure Hunham into changing the grade of a stupid and unmotivated student from an F to a C- because his family are wealthy donors to the school. While inflating the grades of wealthy students obviously runs counter to academic standards and ethics, [[TruthInTelevision it's unfortunately also standard practice at almost all elite schools that rely on donations from rich alumni to stay afloat]], so at worst Woodrup is just a cynical realist.

** Similarly, is Dr. Woodrup truly an irredeemable {{Jerkass}}, or just a DesignatedVillain in the film? He does seem condescending towards Hunham, and even his secretary seems to despise him. On the other hand, it was Woodrup who decided to make Hunham a full faculty member rather than an underpaid adjunct despite Hunham's lack of a college degree. The worst we see Woodrup do is pressure Hunham into changing the grade of a stupid and unmotivated student from an F to a C- because his family are wealthy donors to the school. While obviously running counter to academic standards and ethics, it's [[TruthInTelevision unfortunately also standard practice at almost all elite schools that rely on donations from rich alumni to stay afloat]], so at worst Woodrup is just being a somewhat cynical realist.

** Similarly, is Dr. Woodrup truly an irredeemable {{Jerkass}}, or just a DesignatedVillain in the film? He does seem condescending towards Hunham, and even his secretary seems to despise him. On the other hand, it was Woodrup who decided to make Hunham a full faculty member rather than an underpaid adjunct despite Hunham's lack of a college degree. The worst we see Woodrup do is pressure Hunham into changing the grade of a stupid and unmotivated student from an F to a C- because his family are wealthy donors to the school. While obviously running counter to academic standards and ethics, it's unfortunately also standard practice at almost all elite schools that rely on donations from rich alumni to stay afloat, so at worst Woodrup is just being a somewhat cynical realist here.

** Similarly, is Dr. Woodrup truly an irredeemable Jerkass, or just a DesignatedVillain? He does seem condescending towards Hunham, and even his secretary seems to despise him. On the other hand, it was Woodrup who decided to make Hunham a full faculty member rather than an underpaid adjunct despite Hunham's lack of a college degree. The worst we see Woodrup do is pressure Hunham into changing the grade of a stupid and unmotivated student from an F to a C- because his family are wealthy donors to the school. While obviously running counter to academic standards and ethics, it's unfortunately also standard practice at almost all elite schools that rely on donations from rich alumni to stay afloat, so at worst Woodrup is just being a somewhat cynical realist here.

* AwardSnub: Though Creator/DavineJoyRandolph and Creator/PaulGiamatti both received Oscar nominations, neither Dominic Sessa or Creator/AlexanderPayne did.

* TheWoobie: Mary is a nicer person than either Paul or Angus, and has also dealt with the most painful loss of all: [[spoiler: Her son Curtis, whom she'd sacrificed a lot for in order to give a better life, enlisted in the army after graduating from Barton because she couldn't afford to pay for college and he could attend on the GI Bill if he served in the military, and was subsequently killed in Vietnam]]. She is still grieving the loss, but remains a kind, thoughtful person despite it.

* TheWoobie: Mary is a nicer person than either Paul or Angus, and has also dealt with the most painful loss of all: [[spoiler: Her son Curtis, whom she'd sacrificed a lot in order to give a better life, enlisted in the army after graduating from Barton because she couldn't afford to pay for college and he could attend on the GI Bill if he served in the military, and was subsequently killed in Vietnam]]. She is still grieving the loss, but remains a kind, thoughtful person despite it.

** That being said, in the interest of fairness, how bad is Mrs. Tully, really? While the portrait the film paints of her isn't exactly flattering, it's also minimal and framed completely from the side of Angus who, perceptive and intelligent as he is, is still an angsty youth with an obvious emotional bias. Her leaving Angus alone during christmas is certainly selfish, but she's also had to deal with the very painful situation of [[spoiler: putting her ex-husband into a mental institution]] and is very likely handling the responsibilities of it all by herself. She could be using this "honeymoon" as a way to escape from her frankly horrific circumstances.

* TheWoobie: Mary is a nicer person than either Paul or Angus, and has also dealt with the most painful loss of all: [[spoiler: Her son Curtis, whom she'd sacrificed a lot in order to give a better life, enlisted in the army after graduating from Barton because she couldn't afford to pay for college and he could attend on the GI Bill if served in the military, and was subsequently killed in Vietnam]]. She is still grieving the loss, but remains a kind, thoughtful person despite it.

** Was Mrs. Tully's anger at [[spoiler: her son visiting his father without permission]] truly because [[spoiler: he inadvertently caused a violent episode]] or was it something more selfish? Considering she only makes the bare minimum contact to Angus, is otherwise completely unreachablrle, and is wholly involved with her new husband during the whole movie, it's also possible she was more angry at having to pause her honeymoon [[spoiler: to deal with people she'd rather not be around with]]?

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Literally. The film being set in the 1970s, an aluminum Christmas tree makes an appearance at Lydia Crane's Christmas party.