Quite simply one of the greatest family comedies ever made

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2008)

Roger Ebert gave "Home Alone" a mere 2-1/2 stars, which is the same rating he gave "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," another one of my childhood favorites. (For comparison, he gave that same rating to mediocre movies like "Six Days, Seven Nights" and "Superman III.") The reasoning he gave for giving "Home Alone" that rating was that he liked the first half of the movie, but then didn't like the burglar/booby traps plot in the second half. At first, I was going to say that Roger Ebert has simply lost touch with his inner child, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I watched "Home Alone" today after many years and I still loved it and I still laughed, even though I had practically memorized the movie as a kid and still remembered it all. As a kid, I remember always wanting to get to the "cool" stuff when watching this movie, the parts about pulling pranks on the pizza man or booby-trapping the house. I'd fast-forward through much of the first half (even though I liked it). This time around, I had a new-found appreciation for the beginning half, where we get to see how an 8-year-old copes with waking up and discovering that his family has disappeared. I still LOVE the second half of the movie, but I saw the first half in a new light this time.
I think the reason why that happened is the same reason why Roger Ebert didn't like the second half of the movie. As an adult, one watches family movies to remember what it was like to be a kid, to remember the dreams of being grown-up and independent and the silly little fears of things in the basement. That's what the first half of the movie offers and it works for both kids and adults; kids relate to it and adults reminisce about it.
The second half is for the kids (and for the inner child). Sure, it's pretty outrageous to see an 8-year-old devise clever booby-traps that work like clockwork and are encountered in precisely the right order. Ebert says that our little hero gets too smart and doesn't have the budget for his fancy booby-trapping. Maybe, but that's not the point. Adults watch and say, "Man, this can never happen." But kids say, "Man! I wish I could do that!" It is, after all, one reason why we go to the movies: to see things that can only happen in the movies. As a kid, words could not describe how awesome it was to see an 8-year-old take on two adult burglars and pummel them (especially after one of the burglars had the nerve to say, "Kids are stupid"). It is a child's fantasy come true.
That is why this movie was so popular when it came out, why it stayed #1 at the box office for 12 straight weeks. It's also why every family movie from the 1990's tried (and failed) to imitate it. Kids love it because it's a dream come true and parents love it because it's a dream remembered.
(By the way, parents, I should warn you that kids will want to try and imitate our little hero and, unless you want your house booby-trapped, I'd advise that you let them know not to do that. Also, there's one scene where our hero celebrates his new-found freedom by watching a gangster movie, where he sees one gangster blow another one away with a tommy gun, a scene that scares him and makes him remember his mom. Older kids and adults will laugh at the scene (because it's way over the top), but little kids may actually get scared. Just a caution.)
Macauly Culkin is great as our hero, Kevin. He was a pretty talented child star and it's too bad his career never really went anywhere. Our two burglars are Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci, who are the Pinky and The Brain of breaking and entering. I think Stern's character, Marv, was supposed to be the funnier one, but I personally liked Pesci's character, Harry, more. One thing I love is the way he's muttering nonsense under his breath every time he gets caught in a booby-trap, since he can't curse in a family movie. (Actually, true story, he had to do that because he had just finished filming his Oscar-winning and totally awesome role in "Goodfellas" as a foul-mouthed, quick-tempered, homicidal maniac of a gangster and so he was quite prone to cursing.)
What can I say? I LOVE this movie! It makes me a kid again.