Ah the film franchises. Sometimes they work well with each other but most of the time, it doesn’t. One example of franchises gone wrong is the “Home Alone” series produced by 80s-teen film legend John Hughes. After going into family films, he helped write and produce the first “Home Alone” in 1990 for director Chris Columbus that launched his career as well as making Macaulay Culkin into a profitable child star. After the first one, Hughes worked with Culkin and Columbus again for a even more successful sequel with “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” that had the same formula and cast like Catherine O’Hara, John Heard, Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern. Then in the mid-1990s, Culkin went into a brief spell of post-child actor hell while Chris Columbus bolted to do more successful family films like “Stepmom”, “Nine Months”, and “Mrs. Doubtfire” as well as the first two “Harry Potter” films. John Hughes since then made some mediocre family films that didn’t do well when he ill-advisedly decided to return to the “Home Alone” franchise in a film that didn’t carry anything new from the first two.

1997’s “Home Alone 3" has the same familiar plot like the first two. Child is stuck at home all by his lonesome while battling criminals and such. Written and co-produced by John Hughes, you would think the film would have the same magic like the first two. Wrong, without Chris Columbus or any of the film’s original cast, it was bound to fail. Making his directorial debut was Raja Gosnell (who was the editor of the first two films) in this ill-fated production. Replacing Culkin in the lead role is another child star, Alex D. Linz. Unlike the charming Culkin, D. Linz doesn’t have the intelligence or sympathy that Culkin carries. Not even the film’s cast that includes several people you might not have heard of with the exception of veteran actress Marian Seldes, Olek Krupa, and Scarlett Johansson (Yes, she is in this film) could help this ill-fated disaster. Overall, “Home Alone 3” is a film that just ruins whatever credibility the first two and John Hughes had.

The film begins when a North Korean mobster is trying to obtain a computer chip from the U.S. Air Force that will control all the missile programs to be indestructible. Helping him on this matter is a veteran industrial spy Beaupre (Olek Krupa) who obtains the chip from an agent with his team of henchmen including the suave Jernigan (Lenny van Dohlen), longhaired Unger (David Thonrton), and female companion Alice (Rya Kihlstedt). Things seem to go right when they hide it in a toy car with its box in a Parisian bag. Wrong, instead an accidental switch happens when a grouchy old lady named Mrs. Hess (Marian Seldes) takes the wrong bag on a flight to Chicago. The team follows her where they learn she lives in a suburb with an unplowed driveway. They go to the suburb but didn’t find the unplowed driveway because; the driveway had just been plowed by an 8-year old boy named Alex (Alex D. Linz). Mrs. Hess didn’t like the job so for payment, she gave Alex the toy car as she was upset that she didn’t get the right bag.

Alex goes home discovering he had the chicken pox as he was forced to stay home just as the New Year for school began. His parents Jack (Kevin Kilner) and Karen (Haviland Morris) felt he should stay home but the problem is they have to work so they’ll have Mrs. Hess watch him from her house. Not helping matters are Alex’s older siblings Stan (Seth Smith) and Molly (Scarlett Johansson). For Alex, he just spends the whole day watching the neighborhood as he saw Beaupre burglarizing a house and he calls the police. Unfortunately there was no evidence as he got himself in trouble. The next day happens again as he saw Beaupre at another house and he calls again where he gets into more trouble with the police and gets the brunt of the jokes from his siblings where Molly tells him, “Even worse, you’ve stained the family name”. For Alex, he knows he has to do this himself. He uses the toy car and a video camera attached to it as he learns they were going after the car.

He lets the spies go after the car as the FBI meanwhile learned about the stolen chip. Alex finally finds the chip in the car and calls the Air Force recruitment office as they reported it to the authorities. Alex knew that he would have to go to war with the criminals without help from his family and such but the spies decided to prepare themselves for war too with help from Stan’s loudmouth parrot. They kidnap Mrs. Hess as they decide to break into Alex’s home and we all know what happens if you haven’t seen the first two “Home Alone” movies.

The problem with “Home Alone 3" overall is merely the fact that John Hughes is attempting to cash in on the success of the first two films in order to revive his career. Unfortunately, his script is played to the same formula of the first two but it doesn’t work this time around. It wasn’t surprising the film didn’t do well as the first two because not only did people know what was going to happen but also it was so bland and manipulative in its script. The family members don’t really bond and the slapstick comedy is overdone. Raja Gosnell (who would later direct the “Scooby Doo” films) knows how to make some entertaining moments in his directorial debut but the moments feel forced under the weight of John Hughes. It’s supposed to be a fun family film but it ends up being contrived and bland in the end. Plus, the gags are a little over-the-top, as you would think these criminals would end up being killed with what happens to them. It was fun the first two times but here, it’s not.

Then there’s the film’s uninspiring cast. Kevin Kilner and Haviland Morris don’t really do much but look stupid, make stupid comments and such while the actors who play the criminals end up being used as gag props for physical comedy. They don’t really do much but get electrocuted, run over by a toy car and such. Olek Krupa who plays the lead spy for some reason passes through with his French accent and sneering persona that would make him a great character actor where he shined as a Ukrainian mobster in the 2003 remake of “The Italian Job”. Marian Seldes is funny as the old grouch Mrs. Hess but is really underused throughout the whole film. While Seth Smiths’ role as the older brother is merely nothing but a cliché and a reminder of the elder brother in the first two “Home Alone” movies, he doesn’t do anything but be mean that’s it. While Alex D. Linz is the film’s lead and personally, I don’t like to criticize a performance from a child. They can be either be charming or annoying. Linz however comes off as annoying little smart *ss with some lame lines while his character does play off to his cleverness but doesn’t do enough. Whereas Macaulay Culkin had some charm and sympathy into his performance, Linz doesn’t provide any of that.

Hey wait a minute, what about British Academy Award-winning actress Scarlett Johansson? Well, in her post-“Manny & Lo” breakthrough performance in the 1996 independent feature, her character is pretty much a cliché. Yet for some reason, of all the actors in this film aside from Krupa and Seldes, she’s the only one who can outplay the cliché. Robert Redford must’ve saw something in her sneering look and her delivery of one-liners like “Would that include his buttock region?” and “The ‘it’ your referring to is my little brother”. It’s no wonder after this film, she would get international recognition for “The Horse Whisperer” and the rest is history. While it’s a somewhat better performance than her mediocre role in “Eight Legged Freaks”, this isn’t the worst film she did. That goes to her debut feature in Rob Reiner’s “North” and the awful thriller “Just Cause” with a wasted group of actors like Sean Connery (as her dad), Laurence Fishburne, and Ed Harris. Unfortunately, Miss Johansson would end up working with Linz again in the 1999 family film (that no one saw and maybe, I don’t want to see) “My Brother, the Pig” but thankfully would move on after that.

In the end folks, just stick to the first two “Home Alone” movies. “Home Alone 3" was one film that shouldn’t have been made. Then again, there’s “Home Alone 4" in the works for a release on DVD with French Stewart and some guy playing Macaulay’s character. Great, I guess we’ll have “Home Alone 5" where Kevin McCallister is 21, doing drugs and trying to kill drug dealers. The real dope of this travesty is John Hughes for degrading himself for cheap family films when he should’ve taken a page or two from Chris Columbus, who knows how to make heartwarming family films. As for the growing legions of Johanssonites, should stick to watching the better films and wait for her thoughts on this film whenever she gets asked for “Inside the Actor Studio”. Again, just stick to the first two films or any of the other movies by Chris Columbus or the old 80s teen flicks from John Hughes.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12