Home Alone Review

     Home Alone is directed by Chris Columbus. It tells the story of Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), a little boy who accidentally gets left home alone on Christmas when his family goes on vacation in France.

     On its release Home Alone got tepid reception from critics, who dismissed it as a shallow slapstick comedy. Audiences, however, loved it and it's gone on to become a modern Christmas classic. Personally, though I really love this film, I can see where critics were coming from. I think it comes down to the fact that the Home Alone is trying to be two things at once.

     The scenes involving Kevin defending his home from the wet bandits are really funny. This is due mainly to Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern who are both skilled at slapstick comedy. Seeing them fall down stairs and step on nails is funny, rather then painful, because their reactions are so hilariously over-the-top. In many ways this part of the movie always came off to me as a kind of Die Hard for kids (there's even a scene where a character steps on glass). This movie always brings out the little boy in me, especially during the scenes where Kevin get scared when going down the basement (I would never go down the basement myself as a child) or when the police come and knock on his door. It reminds me of the first time me and my brother stayed home without my parents.

      What really makes this movie stand the test of time is it's heart. Not only does watching Kevin deal with his family's absence remind me of similar experiences from my childhood, it also very emotionally resonant to watch him deal with his guilt over his family "disappearing". The parallel that's drawn between him and his neighbor, Old Man Marley reinforces this. Both Kevin and Marley have had arguments with there family members which have lead, seemingly, to there separation from them, and both of them now feel guilty. When we get to the end of the movie and both people are reunited with their families I always feel a little teary eyed. This would not be possible without John Williams masterful score, which, I think, really elevates the film. His Somewhere in My Memory is worthy of being a classic Christmas song in its own right.

     For all of its hilarious comedy and heartfelt emotion Home Alone suffers from tonal consistency. The slapstick comedy, and really everything involving the wet bandits, clashes with the more grounded emotional scenes with Kevin's family and Old Man Marley. As much as I love Marv and Harry, they can't help but feel like they've walked in from a different film. A great example of this is the Church scene, which is actually one of my favorite scenes in the film. Here we see Kevin have a heart to heart talk with Old Man Marley who, he finally realizes, is a kindly old man, not a monster. Both characters come to a realization about themselves here and resolve to bridge the gap they've created with their family members. But as soon as the scene ends the tone shifts from heartfelt and emotional to one of tension and anticipation as Kevin prepares for the bandits in a montage. Personally, I can't take too much issue with the movie for this. After all combining a heartfelt Christmas tale with a comedic bit of fantasy/wish fulfillment can't be easy.

     A big part of what makes the film work despite this problem is John Hughes writing and Chris Columbus' direction. In addition to bringing the same kind feeling of holiday fatigue that he brought to Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Hughes also inserts a lot of clever set ups and pay offs. Some of these are purely functional, like Buzz's Tarantula which is shown stalking the house through much of the film until Kevin uses it to escape Marv. Others inform character and story like the cut on Marley's hand, which at first gives him an ominous air when Kevin gets scared of him at the drugstore but then takes on a more flawed human quality as he and Kevin shake hands in church, the primitive makeshift bandage now replace by a band aid. By doing this Hughes and Columbus give the film a sense of interconnectedness. If the film feels tonally inconsistent at least it's visually and thematically connected.

     In the end I think that Home Alone succeeds brilliantly despite some of its tonal inconsistency. Beneath it's veneer as a crowd pleasing, slapstick comedy about holiday hustle and bustle is a really heartwarming story about family and forgiveness.

Score: 9/10