Best Ever Movie Night – Home Alone
You know how it is. You’re rushing off on your festive break and on the mad charge to the airport you have that sinking feeling that you may have forgot something.
Maybe the back door is unlocked or that glam new dress still hung up in the wardrobe?
It’s not that unusual in the chaos that is the festive season, but forgetting one of your kids? That takes a special kind of inattention!
However, that is the very dilemma that falls upon the McCallister family (which, admittedly is a very, very big family) who accidentally leave their eight-year-old son Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) behind after he is banished to his bedroom for one to many misdemeanours.
Alone in a big house, many young ones may have crumbled in fear – especially when a couple of crooks casing the neighbourhood think the property is empty – but not our Kevin, who rises to the occasion, using every means at his disposal to thwart the burglars. This includes playing his dad’s old gangster movies at ear-splitting volumes, fire, ice, giant spiders, you name it.
Home Alone has been criticised in some corners for the level of violence it portrays – indeed watching it is like watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon brought to life – but it’s so slapstick to be as unrealistic as the 2d incarnations. What Home Alone is, is hilarious, with a great central performance from the young Macaulay, ably supported by baddies Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.
There’s also a great supporting role for the late John Candy as the amiable musician who tries to get Kevin’s Mum home. There’s also a healthy dose of schmaltz to offset the carnage, which could be annoying, but in this case is the perfect icing on this particular Christmas cake.
How Christmassy is it?
Abandoning your kids at Christmas is arguably not particularly festive, but then the neighbourhood where Kevin lives has more twinkling lights than the rest of the States combined, so you can’t help but feel the spirit of the season.
Watch It When
A Sunday evening in the run up to Christmas. This is a great film to wake you up at the end of the weekend. You’ll laugh to your stomach hurts.
Watch It With
The kids, but don’t make them watch too closely – they might get some ideas!
Appropriate Snacks – Pizza seems to be the staple diet of the McCallister family, so it seems only right to pay homage with a slice of your favourite.
