Now that I'm an adult....

Rating: 5/10 (24 December 2006)

...I decided to give "Home Alone" another look. This used to be one of my favorite movies....when I was about 7 years old. I remember receiving the tape of this movie for Christmas and watching it about 100 times. When you're a kid, a film of this sort is a barrel of laughs. As an adult...it's pretty dull. Not to mention the film hasn't stood the test of time. Macaulay Culkin was an adorable kid, but that's just the point. He was one of those cutesie only-in-the-movies-type kids that got famous for smiling into the camera and belting out semi-witty one-liners. It bothers me every time I watch Culkin's character speak his thoughts out loud, when he's all alone. Having shot a couple student films, that has always been one of my pet peeves. Most non-actors assume that acting is all about talking, and they feel the need to verbalize everything they're feeling, rather than expressing them in facial expressions and body language--like everyday people do! Luckily, Culkin has matured since then, and is now a much better actor. The climax of the movie involving the bumbling burglars still makes me laugh, though, for the most part. It's just weirder now to see the foul-mouthed Joe Pesci in a family film. I still find the interactions between Pesci and Daniel Stern mildly amusing. But all in all, unlike a film like "A Christmas Story," "Home Alone" is not a film the adults can enjoy just as much as the kids. I'm sure the kids won't mind Culkin's hammy acting and the constant use of low-brow humor.