WAY too violent. THIS got by with a PG??????

Rating: 1/10 (2 August 2010)

A heavily dysfunctional family are going away for the Christmas holidays. They accidentally leave 8 year old Kevin (the annoying Macauley Culkin) alone at home. Other than doing what a normal kid would do (go to a neighbor or call the police) he decides to stay at home all alone. Two burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern--both who deserve better) try to break in. Culkin manages to single-handedly set up elaborate bobby traps to stop them.
What a violent sick piece of garbage! I caught this is a theatre back in 1990. I saw it after a long week at work and expected a mindless fun PG movie. I was horrified by what I got. For starters the story was impossible. Leaving behind an 8 year old kid by mistake??? Come on! Also the whole family is heavily dysfunctional and not at all funny. Culkin manages to set up elaborate traps and stuff that no 8 year old could ever do. When Pesci and Stern show up the movie goes from stupid and unbelievable to extremely violent. These poor guys repeatedly get burnt and hit repeatedly on the head and face again and again--and it's all played for laughs! I was sickened by the level of violence in this film. How did this get a PG rating???? Also violence against people is NOT funny. It got to the point that I was rooting for the burglars. Aside from all this it just simply isn't funny. Sick, stupid and unbelievable yes--but NOT funny.
The acting is as bad as you'd expect. Culkin is annoying from the start. Not cute at all--you want the little brat to get it badly. Stern and Pesci do what they can with nothing roles. Still, I realize I'm not the audience for this. In the theatre I saw it with was full of families with their kids. During the violence all the adults sat there horrified while all the little kids were screaming (literally) with laughter. A few parents dragged their kids out of there--I wish I had joined them. This was (inexplicably) a huge hit and led to the thankfully brief career of Culkin. Avoid this like the plague and definitely do NOT let small kids see it. A 1.