Home Alone (1990)

Directed by Chris Columbus. Starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara, John Heard, Roberts Blossom, Gerry Bamman, Devin Ratray, Angela Goethals, Hillary Wolf, Michael C. Maronna, John Candy, Terrie Snell, Ralph Foody. [PG]

Young Kevin McCallister (Culkin) is accidentally left behind by his family after they travel to Paris for Christmas; he’s ecstatic at first, running wild and pigging out on junk food and indulging in precocious mimicry of adult behavior, but later he’s forced to defend his home from a pair of bungling burglars (Pesci, Stern). Contemporary holiday evergreen is kid’s stuff, to be sure, (with the added bonus of holiday trappings to further bait nostalgia), but also a surefire crowdpleaser—such a runaway success that it ended up becoming the third highest grossing film in history at the end of its run!—and it goads a mannered yet star-making turn out of Culkin in addition to the broadly cartoonish antics of the crooks. The fusion of schmaltzy pathos involving the old neighbor (Blossom) and violent slapstick during the booby trap-laden climax is a strange one, however, and the sheer implausibility of the whole affair is tough to swallow, along with a flood of continuity issues that further feed its Jack Frost-nipped fantasy aspects. John Williams’ uplifting music, especially the “Somewhere in My Memory” main theme, elevates and enhances the material. Written and produced by John Hughes. Culkin’s younger brother, Kieran, plays one of his cousins; Hope Davis has a bit part. Followed by several sequels, only the first of which brings back most of the original cast and filmmakers.

61/100