Home Alone (PG)
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Caution: spoilers

Written and produced by John Hughes; directed by Chris Columbus. The movie has a pretty decent soundtrack by John Williams. It came out in 1990, the year after Uncle Buck, which was also written and produced (and directed) by Hughes, and one of that movie's actors was Macaulay Culkin, whom Hughes recommended to Columbus to star in this movie, which made Culkin a huge child star. Anyway, I must have seen the movie a few times in the 90s and later, but it had been quite a few years since I last saw it when I watched it on Disney+ in 2023 to write a review. I guess there wasn't really anything about it that I had forgotten, but the last quarter or so of the movie is what really stuck out in my mind, so I was a bit surprised that its events were such a small part of the movie. I also want to say it's often considered a Christmas movie, because that's when it takes place, but I consider that secondary, and I primarily consider it a family comedy. But I'll list it under both "family" and "holiday".

Culkin plays 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, whose extended family are going on a trip to Paris a few days before Christmas. Kevin is kind of a brat, but his siblings are even worse. And Kevin ends up getting in trouble when he stands up to his older brother, Buzz. His mother, Kate (Catherine O'Hara), sends him to the attic, I guess, to spend the night. Kevin wishes his family would disappear. The next morning, everyone's rushing around to get ready to go to the airport, and they forget about Kevin, who gets left home alone. Eventually Kate realizes she forgot Kevin, but they're on the plane by then, and of course they can't turn around. When they get to France, they try to call Kevin, but the phone lines are down on their street. Kate tries to get a flight back to the U.S. as soon as she can, while the rest of the immediate family wait for another flight.

So... most of the movie is Kevin enjoying his time alone, and taking care of errands and things. Eventually, two burglars named Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) try to break into the house, but Kevin manages to trick them into thinking the whole family is still home, so they'll leave the place alone. (Incidentally, in like 2021 or 22, or both years, there was a thing going around on social media about a lot of people having only just realized Harry had been disguised as a cop at the beginning of the movie, but that's probably not really true. Maybe a few people didn't realize the cop was actually Harry, but I think it got blown out of proportion.) At one point, Kevin overhears the burglars talking about planning to return at night, so he makes a plan to defend the house. And that defense, which consists of a bunch of clever booby traps, is probably what most people remember best about the movie, even though as I said, it took up... probably less than a quarter of the movie. And in the end, the cops get Harry and Marv, who are in pretty bad shape after their night of trying to get Kevin and pay him back for all the pain his traps had inflicted on them.

Meanwhile, there's an old guy named Marley who is Kevin's neighbor, and there are rumors that he had killed a bunch of people years ago. So every time Kevin sees him, he's scared of the guy. But eventually there's a nice scene where Kevin gets to know Marley, and they become friends. Kevin even gives him some good advice, which leads to a touching scene at the end of the movie. Meanwhile, Kate gets to the U.S., but still can't get a flight to her Chicago, where she lives, and ends up getting a ride from a polka band including Gus Polinski (John Candy, who had starred in "Uncle Buck"). So she finally gets home on Christmas morning. And Kevin is glad to see her, having realized he loves his family, after all.

The movie was a huge success, and while I don't love it, I do quite like it. If it were mostly about Kevin defending the house, I feel like it would have been just okay. But I think what makes it great are the other parts, not the slapstick comedy, but rather the heart. Both regarding Kevin and his family, and regarding Marley. Then again, that stuff probably wouldn't have really carried the film without the comedy parts. So all in all, I think it's a very well put-together film, with just the right variety of plot elements.

The movie had one direct sequel in 1992, featuring the same cast as the original. I saw that sometime in the 90s, but while it wasn't bad, I don't feel the need to ever see it again or write a review. (Though part of that may have to do with one specific cameo that ruins the movie for me in retrospect.) There was a third movie with different characters, which I've never seen and have no interest in. There were also a couple of TV movies and a web film, none of which I've seen nor care about. But in 2018 Culkin did a commercial for Google Assistant, which recreated scenes from this movie. That was pretty neat. And... I guess I don't know what else to tell you.