A Minor Classic

Rating: 7/10 (19 March 2015)

John Hughes and Chris Columbus teamed together to bring us one of the biggest box office smashes of 1990...a little thing called Home Alone. A comedy that not only made a lot of money but made a genuine movie star out of the young actor playing the lead role.
Macaulay Culkin lights up the screen as a young man named Kevin McAllister, a young boy who actually gets left behind when his family goes out of town for Christmas. Surprisingly, Kevin's realization that his family got a plane without him sits pretty well with him and he settles into the ultimate kid's fantasy of having the whole house to himself. Unfortunately, playtime is cut short when a couple of bumbling thieves (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) somehow get wind of the fact that Kevin is alone in the house, setting in motion a cartoon-like, cat and mouse game between good kid and the bad crooks that puts the best Tom and Jerry cartoons to shame.
The film's enjoyment lies in the viewer's complete acceptance of the premise as a fantasy. Yes, Kevin is part of a very large family, but there is NO way any family would get on a plane to leave the country without double and triple checking to make sure that all the kids are present and there is also NO way that two grown men couldn't overpower a child if they wanted to. If you can check these two large lapses in cinematic logic at the door, the film can be enjoyable. Yes, the cartoon-violence that occurs between Kevin and the crooks is a little over the top, but it is what makes the film so funny.
Culkin charms in the title role and Pesci and Stern work well together as Kevin's bumbling tormentors. Mention should also be made of Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as Kevin's parents, who are very funny in the opening scenes. Chris Columbus' direction seems to be based on Warner Brothers cartoons, but who doesn't like Warner Brothers cartoons? So check your brain at the door and you'll see why this film was one of the biggest hits of 1990.