Holiday Movie Review: Home Alone

As Christmas approaches, you are sure to see a young Macaulay Culkin pop up on your television screen, slapping on after shave and doing his trademark scream. This is just one of the many memorable scenes that appear in Home Alone.

In this 1990 film directed by Chris Columbus, Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, who is mistakenly left home (hence the film’s title), when his family flies to France for vacation. While a typical child would be frantic, Kevin embraces the empty household, since the night before he told his mother, Kate, played by Catherine O’Hara, that he wished his family would disappear, after getting into a fight with his older brother over a pizza order.

All is fun and games for Kevin, who uses this time to watch a gangster movie and stuffing his face with junk food, until he encounters the dynamic duo of Harry and Marv, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, respectively. The two play bumbling thieves who fall into Kevin’s elaborate booby traps.

Of course Kevin’s parents are shown to be loving individuals, desperately trying to return home and worrying about their son’s well-being. But, apparently child services didn’t exist in the ‘90s since the parents faced no repercussions for leaving their young child to take care of himself. In addition, the police weren’t that effective in helping the situation of making sure Kevin was okay. One police officer in the local area knocked on the house door and when Kevin didn’t answer, the officer reported back to the station that no one was home. He didn’t bother to actually go into the house to check.

Despite these few glitches, Home Alone is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again. Even though I’ve seen it an infinite number of times it never ceases to lose its humor and engaging plots. The film is perfectly cast, especially the roles of Stern and Pesci. Of course, I couldn’t imagine another child actor in the lead role, expect for Culkin. While the movie is a comedy, it does have a heartfelt tone with the importance of family.

Seeing the movie countless times over the years, my brother and I can quote many of the scenes line by line. If only there would have been a class when I was in college called “Home Alone 101” so I could have used this useless knowledge to an advantage.