The near-perfect American family film

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2015)

I saw and loved HOME ALONE as a kid, particularly enjoying all the 'home invasion' traps that Kevin McCallister set up for the bad guys. Watching it nowadays, I'm surprised to see that this sequence only takes up the last quarter of the movie; before then there's a surprisingly complex storyline with some good sub-plots to keep it moving nicely along.
That this also turns out to be a classic film which has lost none of its warmth and magic is the biggest surprise. Yes, Macaulay Culkin is more than a little annoying when you watch him as an adult - in fact, I remember him being annoying when I watched him as a kid - but you can forgive him because he's endearing nonetheless. Of the supporting cast, the ones who particularly shine are Joe Pesci (channelling some of that GOODFELLAS energy), Daniel Stern, and Roberts Blossom (DERANGED).
The film was written by John Hughes, so the expected sentimentality is here, but somehow it never becomes too cloying - you can live with it, because there's plenty of good stuff elsewhere. That home invasion stuff is still superbly directed, surprisingly violent, and very funny, and there's so much ingenuity packed into the running time that this is a film impossible to dislike. In fact, I still love it.