Holiday slapstick fun

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2015)

Ahh, Christmas. An abandoned child brutally assaults, almost murders two nasty burglars and subjects them to all kinds of elaborate slapstick glory. Such is the joy of Chris Columbis's Home Alone, a seminal holiday classic that contains no message, very little arc, and all the booby trapped hilarity that's more demented than my dad's endless cackling when he sees it on TV for the zillionth time. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy the film, and re watch it whenever I get the chance. It's just pretty demented. Macauley Culkin (back when he was a cute kid before he grew up and looked like something that Dr. Frankenstein made using Steve Buscemi's DNA) plays feisty little Kevin, accidentally left behind at home when his massive dysfunctional family heads off for Christmas vacation. Feeling a bit blue after harsh words with several of his clan, he sets out to live life on his own over the break, which includes shoplifting a toothbrush, eating copious amounts of junk food and the classic prank pizza delivery (ya dirty animal). Things get weird when two scruffy, relentlessly dumb burglars (Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci) set their sights on his home. He takes the phrase 'holding down the fort' terrifyingly seriously, and devises a onslaught of evil traps, gags and medieval style defense tricks that would make the Huns proud. Seriously, I wouldn't wish that tarantula misfortune on anybody. Pesci is grinning glee as the smarter of the two (which isn't saying much) and Stern plays up the banter as the colossal idiot. Catherine O Hara and John Heard play his neurotic parents, John Candy has a puzzling cameo as the undisputed polka king of the Midwest, and Roberts Blossom plays a menacing show shoveller who figures in the plot. Quite the holiday romp. I'm not including the sequels in this series, but I will say: the second one is fun, but stales a bit as it's essentially just a retread of this just in NY and wayy more implausible. I really love the third which is probably my favourite of the series (come fight me). Avoid the 4th and 5th like the plague unless you want to see French Stewart and Malcolm McDowell embarrass their careers terrifically.