Home Alone

Home Alone; comedy, USA, 1990; D: Chris Columbus, S: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, Robert Blossom, Angela Goethals, Devin Ratray, Hilary Wolf, Kieran Culkin, John Candy

Chicago during Christmas. Kevin is an 8-year old boy living in a large family consisting of his 10 siblings, parents and uncle. One evening he has a fight with his brother Buzz and is sent to the third floor over the night as a punishment. The next morning, the family rushes to the airport to catch a flight to Paris, accidentally leaving Kevin behind at home. He manages to fight off two burglars who wanted to break into his house, Harry and Marv, while his family returns home with the next flight to Chicago.

"Home Alone" is a neat "family comedy without the family", as it slyly states in the poster tagline, that managed to become a hugely popular piece of work thanks to its attractive mix of gentle comedy, "Rambo"-style self-defense tactics and slightly cruel satire about a family which forgot their own kid at home, thus turning into one of the easily more enjoyable flat Hollywood blockbusters. It became the highest grossing comedy film up to that point, and is broadcast almost every Christmas on TV stations worldwide, advancing into a tradition. Macaulay Culkin isn't as cute as the authors thinks he is, but he still delivered an excellent performance as the main protagonist, while the rather inappropriate black humor and morbid gags that appear towards the adventure 20-minute finale where Kevin has to protect his home from a "siege" by two burglars, Harry and Marv, so he surrounds himself with booby traps, is both the movie's highlight and its most questionable ingredient—honestly, how could the writers imagine that an 8-year old kid with a machine gun in his hands can be something sweet? Or that such cruel moments as the one where Marv steps on a nail are comical?

But if one is to accept the whole over-the-top "violence" as a "Tom and Jerry" kind of cartoon, then the situation is actually rather funny and at times even highly creative, fun and dynamic, especially in such scenes where Harry (Joe Pesci) opens the door of the house, causing a string-attached flamethrower to burn his head, leaving only a small piece of hair on his new "bald spot". Another good gag has Marv invading the house through the dark basement, so he pulls a hanging string thinking it will turn on the light, but it just pulls down a clothes iron which falls on his head. Not all the jokes work, several are forced, but the story by John Hughes is somehow strangely appealing for a silly mainstream comedy, creating an untypically anarchic "Christmas movie", though with a grounded emotional ending, while the small roles are nicely staged, especially the brilliant comedian John Candy in a small guest appearance as Gus, the Polka king who offers Kevin's mom the ride to Chicago.

Grade:++