Home Alone (1990) Movie Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for this cold Friday afternoon. I'm here to review Home Alone from 1990. My opinions on this movie are a bit...controversial, but, I ask that you all keep an open mind when you're reading this review because I realize that this is a beloved early '90s classic that spawned a franchise that spans 30 years. I will be reviewing every movie in this franchise that I have access to. Which means the three theatrical movies, and the two TV movies as I have those on DVD. So let's get into it and talk about Home Alone.

My history with Home Alone is a bit on the strange side. I vaguely remember seeing the movie when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure either my parents or my grandparents owned it on VHS, but I don't remember watching it on VHS. I ended up talking to my mom about it this morning and she told me that we watched it on TV one time since we obviously didn't go see it in theatres when it originally came out in 1990. She didn't say when we watched it on TV, only that we watched it at some point. Most likely before Home Alone 2 came out because I don't remember ever watching the second movie, because Mom didn't like the first one. The next time I saw this movie, before I sat down to watch it last night for this review, was in 2019 when I watched it on Disney+. So it had been awhile since I watched it last.

Home Alone isn't a very good movie. Don't get me wrong, I like it and I have fun watching whenever I watch it, which, admittedly, isn't very often, but it's not good. The biggest problem I have with this movie is that Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, the kid we're following through the whole movie, is a jerk and doesn't actually grow as a character. At least, not to the point where he's actually likeable. Of course, his siblings, especially Buzz, played by Devin Ratray, his cousins, and his uncle aren't much better. In fact the only good thing that Kevin does in this movie is convince his neighbour, Marley, to call his son and reconcile with him. That's it.

I think my biggest problem with Kevin is that he does stuff that no kid would ever think of doing when faced with being left at home by his family when they go on vacation. Especially at the age of 8. If kids that age could do things like go grocery shopping by themselves and go buy a new toothbrush, which Kevin ends up stealing just because he sees Marley there and is afraid of him, then we wouldn't need our parents once we're toilet trained. And then, instead of calling the cops on Marv and Harry, he lays booby traps for them inside the house. Like, okay, I get that that's the entire premise of the movie, but no 8 year old, whether it's 1990 or 2023, is capable of acting like an adult when faced with a really dangerous situation such as two crooks breaking into their home to steal things. Especially when Kevin shows no sign of being a tactical genius on a video game or board game or anything like that.

The cast is spectacular though. Though besides Macaulay Culkin, Daniel Stern, Catherine O'Hara, Kieran Culkin, John Candy, and Hope Davis, the last two of whom don't even play major characters in the movie, this is the only movie I've seen this cast in. Daniel Stern voiced adult Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years, I just watched Catherine O'Hara in Beetlejuice a few weeks ago, and has been in several other movies that I've seen over the years, Macaulay was everywhere in the '90s from The Pagemaster and The Nutcracker (the 1993 movie version) to Richie Rich, his brother, Kieran played Scott Pilgrim's roommate, Wallace Wells in the 2010 movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Hope Davis played Tony Stark's mom in flashbacks in Captain America: Civil War, and of course John Candy was in a bunch of movies in the '80s including Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird from 1985 and Spaceballs from 1987. Everybody else is unfamiliar to me outside of this movie. And, yes, that includes Joe Pesci. Though I at least know of Michael C. Maronna, as he played Big Pete in the Nickelodeon series, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and while I've never seen that show, I've heard many good things about it in the last five years or so.

My favourite scene in the movie is the scene in the church where Marley and Kevin talk about stuff, and Marley explains why he's at the church, and Kevin convinces him to call his son, despite Marley being afraid to do so. We don't get the whole story of Marley and his son, but, we honestly don't need to. We're told just enough to agree with Kevin when he tells Marley to call his son. 

I can't really tell whether John Hughes meant for this movie to be a comedy. While there's some comedy in it, it's not a laugh a minute like most comedies are. There are some genuine, heartfelt moments in this movie. Too bad the main characters are all unlikeable for one reason or another. Though Catherine O'Hara's character, Kevin's mom, is the most likeable character in the entire movie.

What blows my mind is that Home Alone was the #1 box office hit of 1990, making a total of $476.7 million by the end of its run. I think that also includes home video sales as well, as it was also the highest-selling video of all time, alongside E.T., which is really hard to believe. Especially because on the list of highest-selling videos (VHS) on Wikipedia, it's surpassed by the 2001 film, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Mrs. Doubtfire, and a ton of Disney movies, with The Lion King being at the top of the list. Though Home Alone did outsell Batman (1989). Hm, I think I might have to do an entire blog post on this list, because it's fascinating to me.

I honestly don't have too much more to say about Home Alone. It's a good movie, it's just not the fantastic, perfect movie people seem to think it is. Maybe it's just because I didn't really grow up with it the way I did Home Alone 3, so I don't really understand why people love it so much. It's a decent Christmas movie though and fun to watch. Just don't expect to get much out of it if you've never seen it before and are planning on watching it over the holidays. It's a popcorn flick like the original The Fast and the Furious is, though if I'm being honest, I think I would watch Home Alone again more than I would watch The Fast and the Furious. That might just be me though.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for this week. I'll be continuing the Home Alone movie reviews next week with Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I'll be putting that review out a bit earlier in the week because I'm going to my friend's house for the weekend on Friday. Besides that though, I'll have another comic book review for you next week as well. I might have other posts for you next week as well, but we'll see how things go before Friday. So until then have a great evening and a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.