A family comedy without the family

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2008)

This movie tells a child's fantasy about having no family. Lot of kids wish they could have the whole house to themselves so they can do whatever they want and not be told what not to do or told what to do. Even I remember wishing the same. I envied Kevin but couldn't understand why he wanted his family back. They were all mean to him. Now I understand. Kevin does indeed do things his would never be able to do with his family around but then he starts to miss them when he sees Harry and Marv (two burglars) want to rob his house. They have already hit the other houses on the block and now they want to hit his. Now he has to do everything he can to keep them away by pretending people are home. But he can't even go to the police because he thinks he has actually made them disappeared and he would get in trouble with the police for making them go away. But what he didn't know is they all got up in a hurry because they all slept in and went to Paris and they took the shuttle in, not their cars.
It's obvious Kevin a pain to his family and his parents don't listen, his siblings are mean to him, Buzz likes to play mean tricks on him. It's obvious Uncle Frank doesn't like him because he calls him names, won't let him watch a movie with the other kids, pulls his pants down in a deleted scene and didn't care he was left home alone. "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."
What's funny is Harry poses as a police officer and there he sees Kevin who is helpless and a trouble maker to the family. But when the family is away, he sees Kevin isn't as helpless and he is capable of what he didn't know what he was capable of.
Kevin is obviously very bright and smarter than other kids his age despite not knowing how to pack a suitcase or tie his shoes. What kind of eight year old knows how to set all those traps and come up with a plan to catch those bad guys and figure out their moves?
With his family away, Kevin grows up a little by concurring his fear of the basement, and showing his family he can take care of himself and what he is capable of and he isn't as helpless as they thought he was.