Home Alone

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One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies has to be Home Alone. If you're not familiar with the story, it's about this kid named Kevin (played by then popular child star Maculley Culkin), who lives in a big family and all his relatives are over because they're planning on taking a trip to Paris over Christmas. Kevin, only being 8 years old, is treated like the stupid little kid that gets on everyone's nerves seeing that he doesn't even know how to do something as simple as pack a suitcase. When they order pizza, Kevin's older brother decides to be a dick and eat all the plain cheese pizza, which is the only type of pizza Kevin will eat. Kevin starts this big fight and gets sent to bed early. He wishes his family disappears, which just so happens when the power goes out overnight and the family ends up waking up late, having to rush out the door to the airport. In the process since they were in such a hurry and since the family was so big, they forgot all about Kevin upstairs. Kevin sees this as his wish came true and that he runs the house now. The family freaks out when they discover that they forgot him and have to deal with the challenges of the holiday season to try to fly back to Chicago. Kevin, on the other hand, learns to take care of himself and overcome his own obsticles. At the same time, there are two infamous burglars that want to rob Kevin's house while he's there home alone. There's a subplot about an old next door neighbor, who was rumored to be a serial killer, that Kevin finally meets and befriends near the climax. In the climax, which is considered the best part of the movie, Kevin sets up a bunch of traps to defend the house against the burglars, including slippery steps, a blowtorch at the door, etc. I thought it was pretty ridiculous how invincible these two burglars were and how they didn't want their pride shattered by some kid besting them. In the end, the burglars are arrested, Kevin reunites with his family, and it's a Merry Christmas...until Kevin's brother freaks out when he finds his room is a total mess (lol).

This is an awesome movie that holds up even today. I remember I used to watch it all the time as soon as I got it on VHS. It was one of those movies I could really relate to especially at the time. Of course, this movie also got me in a lot of trouble. I was in first grade when this movie came to video, and I brought a lot of movies in for the class to watch such as 101 Dalmations, but I got in a lot of trouble for bringing in Home Alone just because there's mild swearing in the movie and apparently it's a bad influence on kids. I also had a huge playhouse in the backyard that my dad built, and I set up traps home-alone style for my sister or one of my rogue friends to fall into. One of them was a trap door in the middle of the floor that I took out and placed a rug over.

I can't say too much about the sequals. I was excited when Home Alone 2 came out in theaters, but I was pissed off beyond belief when I fell asleep halfway through the movie and had to wait until it came out on VHS in order to see the movie in full. Nowadays, this movie doesn't hold up nearly as well as the original. For the most part, it's pretty much the same exact story/plot as the first with the only major difference being that Kevin actually made it to the airport with his family this time around but got on the wrong plane that took him to New York instead of Miami. The two burglars, Marv and Harry, are back in this movie as the villains again and they just happened to make it to New York. How they were able to spot Kevin in a city of 8 million people is beyond me. The traps in this movie were completely ridiculous, even moreso than in the first film. I mean, some of these traps would kill a person in real life. Not Marv and Harry, as they are like cartoon characters.

I never saw Home Alone 3 or 4, and I really don't care to because from what I gathered, they suck.

They made a 3 and a 4? Never knew that

The 4th one sucks, don't bother watching it. The 3rd one was okay. I liked the first two the best and I was obsessed with them when I was eight. They were my favorite. I have noticed some other movies by John Hushes have a Home Alone theme in it like 101 Dalmatians (animals playing tricks on Cruella to keep her away from the puppies) Baby's Day Out (the kidnappers keep running into obstacles while trying to catch baby Bink) Dennis the Mennis (Denis clumsy moves hurt switchblade Sam when he kidnaps him and decides to use him as his hostage).


Lot of traps Kevin set for Harry and Marv in both movies would have killed or injured someone in real life. Maybe lot of the ones in the first one were tamer and maybe plausible that you can slip down the icy stairs, step on a nail, stepping on ornaments bare feet, slipping on toy cars, and not have to go to the hospital. I have stepped on a nail and didn't need to go to ER.

Agreed. I watched Home Alone several dozen times as a child. The slap stick scenes were some of the few movie scenes that made me laugh hysterically. I managed to catch it on TV once this winter and also remarked how often the injuries could have been fatal and I can see the harm in suggesting there's anything comedic about a person stepping on a nail and falling backwards down a flight of stairs but...I still laughed.

Yes, the second one is the only sequel worth watching. I tend to watch them both around Christmas time.

they just released Home Alone 5 this year...

for christmas...i got a Home Alone three pack (the first three movies...)

The first one was and always will be awesome, the second was a rehash of all the first ones gags, the third was mindless slapstick and crude humor, and I haven't and have no desire see the fourth.

I don't know what happened to John Hughes. He started a pretty good writer, but everything he wrote after Home Alone was just over-the-top slapstick and bombast.