"Home Alone" is probably every boy's fantasy; defending his/her home and family against bad guys by using the same techniques they see on their favorite cartoon show. However, when we consider the fact the film is centered around a 10-minute slapstick-laced climax, we realize this isn't intelligent film-making, but at least it's enjoyable to watch.
Macauly Culkin stars as eight-year-old Kevin MaCallister, who is currently sharing his huge suburban Chicago house with 14 other family members. They are all getting ready for their Christmas trip to Paris, and the place is insane with kids running all over the place. Since Kevin is one of the smallest, he’s always being picked on and ignored by everyone. This eventually leads him to attack his brother during dinner and then get sent to sleep in the attic as punishment (and no, that’s not a form of child abuse). These opening scenes are told in a lighthearted manner and somehow seem completely plausible. It has a funny sense of realism to it, somewhat sitcom-esque, yet it’s not formulaic.
Clichés are the backbone of comedy and without them Hollywood might actually have to grown a brain and think of other ways to be funny and tell stories. Through a series of events that are believable but cartoony, Kevin winds up being left home alone while the rest of the family flies to France in a mad panic, not noticing he’s missing until it’s too late.
Children can think of things adults would consider crazy, but in Hollywood they're borderline genius. Most of the film tells the story of what would happen when you leave an eight-year-old boy alone in a big house in a rich neighborhood, almost as if he was exploring it for the first time. We see Kevin do things he's not supposed to do such as watch R-rated movies, eat junk food, look through his brother's secret stashes, sleep in his parents' bed, shave, do laundry, go shopping, etc. Then again, some of his antics are quite funny, such as sledding down his living room stairs and out the front door. Or the awkwardness of dealing with strangers and coming to grips with his phobias.
But the entire premise of the film revolves around Kevin battling the bumbling burglars Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern). This is why the film could be labeled as a "cartoon," because the idea of a small child outsmarting idiot crooks is nothing new, yet it does not seem trite at the time. Harry and Marv seem believable because they don't stand out compared to the rest of the film. Just considering Pesci and the character he plays is funny because he has played so many vicious gangsters and now he is being foiled and tortured by a little kid.
Harry and Marv constantly keep an eye on Kevin's house and when they realize he's home alone, they plan to rob it anyway. Kevin is clever and plants booby traps that could actually work, but only with the help of a multi-million dollar production crew. His traps include: glue, feathers, tar, nails, matchbox cars, lots of ice, smashed ornaments, cut ropes, and a perfectly-edited gangster movie.
For the most part, the slapstick scenes paid off for me, but depending on your own cynicism it might be more distracting. The problem is this only works once, so in retrospect in seems rather stupid and silly, and that is why the film is simply alright instead of great.
"Home Alone" is a decent family-oriented comedy with a lot of Christmas nostalgia to it. It doesn't try to be something it's not, but it should have tried harder to be itself.
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