hughes continues his plummet

Rating: Null/10 (7 November 2000)

Hughes first installment was decent up to a point, before the violence erupted. Here he somehow was greenlighted even though he used the EXACT same script, at some times right down to dialogue used in the first film. As others have pointed out, the title is a misnomer as Culkin ends up on the wrong flight and wanders New York for a couple of days. Some said his acting improved, I still found him stiff in his delivery, but that didn't stop Little Mac from netting 6 mil for this. His adventures this time around are a little duller, as he basically spends money all over the place and dazzles adults with his outlook on life. It's all filler to lead up to what the kids came for, more painful burglar bashings, even more extended and tortuous than the first movie. How many times can these take a hit and have it be funny? After one or two, it just gets unbelievable, and then uncomfortable. Again, Pesci and Stern squeal their lungs out as they're dropped, slammed, electrocuted, torched, bonked, etc. At least the gags in the first film had a shread of credibility. Here, Hughes concocts such ridiculous means of slapstick that you roll your eyes in disbelief. Take for instance the scene where Culkin magically (thats the only word to describe it) gets Stern to jump on a plank placed over a barrell so he can hurtle Pesci several feet into the air, and land on top of a car, smashing its windows to bits. Or the dumbest moment that others have mentioned, when Culkin flings brick after brick from a rooftop into a dumbstruck Stern's face. Didn't anyone on set say "ok, come on, now this is kind of stretching it." This is one of the most depressing "comedies" to come along in awhile, that has no idea what Christmas should be about. But more infuriating for me, is that my writing mentor Hughes has truly sunk with this crap. Only bright spot is a terrific theme song by Darlene Love, "All Alone on Christmas". Otherwise, nothing of value, except the few hundred million suckered into turning out for this waste.