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Paul Giamatti’s performance in The Holdovers is just another high point in a long, memorable career.

Paul Giamatti’s performance in "The Holdovers" is just another high point in a long, memorable career.

Nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Alexander Payne’s bittersweet comedy The Holdovers, Giamatti has seemingly nudged ahead to co-favorite territory—partly because he’s great in the film, but partly because he’s the kind of guy almost anyone would be happy to see pop out of a Dumpster. A younger generation than mine venerates his villainy in the Frankie Muniz comedy Big Fat Liar; to many elder Millennials like myself, his work as the iconoclastic cartoonist Harvey Pekar in American Splendor helped introduce me to the history of indie comics. A lesser actor would make the reveal of Paul’s heart of gold feel ill-earned; with Giamatti, the viewer recognizes from scene one that he’s been a secret sweetheart all along, even as he snaps at his truculent students and joyfully hands out detentions.

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