expand the final fifteen minutes of home alone into a feature - length film and you 've got baby 's day out -- an agreeably amusing children 's comedy about a bumbling band of kid kidnappers who are unwittingly outwitted by an innocent infant .
the plot tracks a trio of crooks - posed - as - photographers ( mantegna , pantoliano , haley ) who steal nine - month - old bennington august cottwell iv , aka baby bink , from his old - money home .
but the plan goes awry when baby crawls out an open window and into the streets of downtown chicago !
following the path of his favorite story , called " baby 's day out , " baby rides a bus and visits the zoo and winds up at a skyscraper construction site .
while baby stays unscathed , the crooks fare worse for the wear .
the stooges get hit by boards and dropped from roofs and , of course , suffer multiple crotch injuries .
( john wayne bobbitt should probably steer clear of this one . )
like he did in planes , trains , and automobiles
, john hughes again demonstrates his mastery of the simple set - up and extended execution .
here , he 's aided and abetted by a director , patrick read johnson , whose choreography could rival
a coen brother .
best bit : baby crawling across a busy city street .
baby 's day out has only two emotions -- awww and ouch -- and the actors play them accordingly .
forget the cartoon concern of lara flynn boyle or cynthia nixon , disposable as mom and nanny , respectively , the ones to watch are the ones who are wincing .
joe mantegna is a great head stooge , barking lines like " that little doo - doo machine is my retirement money .
"
brian haley has a great scene with a gorilla , while joe pantolianto plays curly to mantegna 's moe .
*
he * is funny .
needless to say , twins adam and jacob warton
are adorable beyond belief .
agreeably amusing children 's comedy best bit : demonstrates his mastery of the simple set - up and extended execution are adorable beyond belief * he * is funny has a great scene aided and abetted by a director , patrick read johnson , whose choreography could rival