''The Hollars'' is a 2016 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nin ...

and written by James C. Strouse. The film stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

led by Krasinski, starring

Sharlto Copley Sharlto Copley (born 27 November 1973) is a South African actor. His acting credits include roles in the Academy Award-nominated science fiction film ''District 9'', the 2010 adaptation of ''The A-Team'', the science fiction film ''Elysium'', t ...

Charlie Day Charles Peckham Day (born February 9, 1976) is an American actor, writer, producer and podcaster. He is best known for playing Charlie Kelly on the FX comedy ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), which he co-created with Rob ...

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...

Anna Kendrick Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...

and Margo Martindale. The world premiere took place at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

on January 24, 2016, and it was released on August 26, 2016, by

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produce ...

Plot

Struggling

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

ist John Hollar learns that his mother, Sally is diagnosed with a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

, and joins his brother, Ron, and father, Don, by her side. Her attending physician Dr. Fong tells them that the tumor is scheduled to be removed later that week. John is also facing the birth of his first child with his girlfriend Rebecca. Ron is spying on his ex-wife Stacey, whom he divorced years ago, but he is confronted by her new partner Reverend Dan. John meets his high school classmate and mother's nurse Jason, who married Gwen, John's ex-fiancée. Jason rightly suspects that Gwen only married him after becoming pregnant with their child, and still has feelings for John. Don is forced to work at the wine shop to support his failing plumbing business. At night, Ron sneaks inside Stacey's house to see his two daughters, but is subsequently arrested by the police when Stacey finds out. He is immediately bailed when Rev. Dan learns how much he loves his kids. One day before her operation, John and Sally sneak out of the hospital to enjoy her last meal. On the day of the operation, the doctors successfully remove the tumor, but later, she dies with Don at her side. Don emotionally reads a letter Sally wrote before she died. Rev. Dan marries John and Rebecca, and later, in the middle of their mother's funeral, John, Ron, and Don rush Rebecca to the hospital as she goes into labor.

Cast

as John Hollar, Ron's brother *

as Ron Hollar, John's brother *

as Don Hollar, Ron and John's father * Margo Martindale as Sally Hollar, Ron and John's mother *

as Rebecca, John's girlfriend *

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Her first significant role was that of Jessica Bennett on the NBC soap opera ''Passions'' (1999–2000). She went on to appear in series such as ''Tru Calling' ...

as Gwen, John's ex-fiancée *

as Jason, John's high school classmate and Gwen's husband * Ashley Dyke as Stacey, Ron's ex-wife *

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

as Reverend Dan, Stacey's partner *

Randall Park Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community * Randall, Indiana, a former town * Randall, Iowa, a city * Randall, Kansas, a city *Randall, Minne ...

as Dr. Fong, Sally's physician *

Mary Kay Place Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress, singer, director, and screenwriter. She is known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emm ...

as Pam * Tonea Stewart as Latisha

Production

On May 5, 2014, it was announced

would direct the film, with Krasinski,

, Margo Martindale and

joining the cast.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

and production began on July 15, 2014, and ended on August 15, 2014. Principal photography took place on location in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, including Brookhaven,

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

. According to Krasinski, editing was completed on January 16, 2015.

Josh Ritter Josh Ritter (born October 21, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006, he was named one of ...

composed the film's score.

Release

''The Hollars'' premiered at the

2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi E ...

on January 24, 2016. On January 29, 2016,

acquired all rights to its United States and Asia release. The film was released on August 26, 2016, by Sony Pictures Classics.

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 47%, based on 92 reviews, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''The Hollars'' gathers an impressive assortment of talented stars; unfortunately, it's all in service of a story that's been played out more effectively in countless other indie dramedies."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gives the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollars, The 2016 films 2010s English-language films 2016 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films about dysfunctional families Films directed by John Krasinski Films set in Ohio Films set in New York City Films shot in Mississippi Sony Pictures Classics films 2016 independent films 2010s American films