Home Alone: On-This-Day Thursday
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For November 16th, we are going to have a look at Home Alone.
Ah yes, it’s now holiday tradition to see Kevin McCallister destroy the lives of two goons that are trying to break into his house, all because he was left in the unique titular state of this Chris Columbus and John Hughes feel-good-by-feeling-sore venture: Home Alone. That run on sentence somehow didn’t surpass the length of the franchise, which has gone on to survive an additional four films, with a fifth in the making; lest we forget about all of the knock off films of the ‘90s, either. Point is that Home Alone was never going to die, and every filmmaker wanted to recreate this sandbox trap fest of a film that made adults feel like children, and children feel invincible. Irresponsible parenting, technical limitations, and plot holes we can all turn a blind eye to set up a stringed series of crazy antics, and it’s the kind of stuff no one ever forgets. For me, it was like that board game 13 Dead End Drive, except no one was dying, and we all knew who the perpetrators are at all times.
How well does the film hold up ages later, and with nostalgia goggles and holiday spirit removed? Well, as someone who isn’t absolutely in love with this film, I still think that this Home Alone (and only this Home Alone) is still a lot of fun. Sure, it can feel like its sole purpose is to just have a kid outsmart two losers for over an hour, but let’s forget about the franchise and what we already know many years after its release. If we were to watch this for the first time, we could likely be sure that nothing would happen to Kevin, but we still aren’t quite sure as to how he’s going to get out of this dangerous jam. That’s where the film gets interesting: not by plot progression, but by the progression of survival. Sure, the McCallister family realizing their mistake and trying to figure it out is driven by plot points, but the calamity that they pose still matches the anarchy of Kevin’s ordeals.
Kevin continuing the Christmas tradition of Die Hard being a holiday film.
Even stripping away the pop culture awareness of every single second of this film, Home Alone is still predictable enough and a little too invested in its gimmicks to resonate as a well put together film, but that really doesn’t matter. Clearly, that’s not what has created its popularity over the years. It is the endless amounts of traps (before they became ridiculous, like Home Alone 3) and the frantic energy of the film. No one watches Home Alone the second to ten thousandth time because they want to anticipate what’s going to happen. It’s because they enjoy what they already know happens. It’s great background noise during the holidays, or nostalgic fun to hone in on when given one’s full attention. Not every film on Earth has to be academic or set to win awards. Sometimes they can just be reliable fun. Home Alone knows how to dish out that fun, and (to me) is the only film — franchise affiliated or rip off — that utilized its blend of imagination and chaos well.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.