In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

at first glance , it appears that the home alone movies are brainless slapstick intended for those with minds of 8-year olds .
that 's true of home alone
2
and i 'd bet money that it 's true of home alone
3 ( opening soon ) .
but home alone
actually has a lot going for it , and the cartoon slapstick does n't get in the way .
the mcalisters , all 15 of them , are going to france for the holidays .
four adults and eleven kids are spending the night together before heading to the airport en masse .
the littlest kid , kevin , is the victim of the older kids ' cruelty .
kevin 's patience runs out when he learns that his plain - cheese pizza has already been eaten , and he 's going to have to starve .
he attacks his big bully brother buzz , who had been teasing him .
the fight disrupts the already - chaotic dinner , spilling milk and soft drinks all over the table , a few cousins , and an uncle .
the knee - jerk reaction is for everyone to blame kevin .
nobody came to his rescue when he was being teased , but they all point their fingers when he fights back .
the ultimate punishment comes from mom ( catherine o'hara ) who sends him up to the spare bedroom in the attic for the night .
on his way up the stairs , he tells her that " families suck " and that he hopes never to see any of his family again .
that night the power goes out , knocking out the alarm clocks , so the mcalisters wake up in a big hurry to get to the airport .
in a surprisingly plausible setup , kevin is mistakenly accounted for , and the family heads off without him .
it 's interesting that , in a subtle way , his parents never noticed him missing because of their deliberate desire to separate themselves from their children .
first they delegate the headcount to an older sibling , and second , they put all the kids in coach while they fly first class .
they 're two - thirds of the way across the atlantic before they realize they are missing a child .
meanwhile , kevin believes that somehow his wish has come true .
he 's finally rid of his family !
life is a dream come true .
he can jump on the beds , watch r - rated movies , eat gobs of ice cream and potato chips , and dig through his big brother 's secret box .
slowly , the novelty wears off and he settles into the mundane .
he grooms himself , he does the laundry , he goes shopping ( " i bought some milk , eggs , and fabric softener " ) .
he also starts to miss his family , not just for their company , but for the security they bring .
the furnace in the basement is a scary monster , the old man next door is a snow - shovel murderer , and two crooks are trying to break into his house .
macaulay culkin is cute but he is n't much of an actor .
still , we can see that kevin 's character grows , thanks to some good direction and editing
.
for example , acting has little to do with the emotional impact of the scene where kevin searches out a seasonal santa at night , just as " santa " is getting in his car .
kevin asks the man to pass on his request - he wants his family back - to the real santa .
he learned how to deal with the furnace .
you turn on the lights and it 's not so scary anymore .
he goes to a church one evening
and there he sees the snow - shovel murderer , who actually turns out to be a nice man .
they talk about their fears and kevin learns that age alone does not make you less afraid .
finally , in the last 20 minutes , kevin confronts his last fear - the bandits , head on ( literally ) .
this last act is full of violent comedic slapstick , and after the movie 's genuine dramatic setup , it is dessert .
it 's a lot of fun , and it does n't overwhelm the rest of the movie
.
on the whole , home alone is a great holiday movie .
john williams ' original score has the sound and feel of holiday music without the disadvantage of being overplayed at the malls , and the christmas setting can put you in the mood for those family gatherings .
but it does have its flaws .
the smallest problem is that culkin does n't act very well .
as i said before , he is cute , but repeated viewings reveal more about how columbus covered himself than about culkin 's insight into his character .
the biggest problem is that during the cartoony coda , the villains threaten kevin 's life about five times .
instead of " i 'm gon na get that kid
" they say " i 'm gon na kill that kid .
"
some might argue that the tone is the same , but i strongly disagree .
mixing comedy with specific and viable threats of murder is a sociopathic faux - pas .
i 'll probably never see home alone 3 , and i wish i had skipped home alone 2 , but i do enjoy home alone almost every year
.
do n't let your impressions of the others detract from the original , which has much more to offer than cartoon slapstick .
P

synopsis : easily - angered , chainsmoking architect david encounters his homicidal first wife diedre five years after their divorce .
diedre easily cons david 's not - so - bright new wife molly into believing she 's a child psychologist so that she can influence molly and
david 's quick - tempered son , michael .
diedre , at the same time , murders a bunch of people .
comments : the ex is a very bad movie .
i have n't seen a turkey of this magnitude in quite a while .
i kept vacillating , however , between giving the ex one star for its sheer awfulness and three stars for its campy humor ( ultimately , i decided to split the difference and give it two stars ) .
as summarized briefly in the synopsis , this is yet another spurned - psycho - lover - gets - her - revenge type movie .
i 'm not sure how many films have been produced since fatal attraction which use this tired storyline , but it seems like 10 , 000 , 000 , 000 .
the ex , however , though following many of the standard cliches of this thriller subgenre , differs slightly from the norm in that , at least , it does n't take itself too seriously like so many other duds do ( malicious and stalked are two examples which come to mind ) .
those involved in the movie realize they 're in a turkey , apparently , and turn in hammy performances which compliment the ludicrous dialogue contained within the script .
the ex 's storyline , as i said , incorporates many cliches predominant in films of its nature ; however ,
the plot is so overwrought and unbelievable
that , after a while , the viewer must accept that logic does not operate in the realm of the movie .
diedre , david 's first wife , kills and kills and kills , for example , without ever having to worry about police investigations and the like ( it 's not as though she 's bright enough not to leave fingerprints at the scene of the crime ) .
david and his new wife molly have an incredibly difficult time understanding why michael , their son , has emotional problems , specifically his inability to control his anger .
though david smokes like tomorrow will never come and blows up at people every other minute in the movie , the connection between him and his son is not made .
molly is easily swayed by diedre into believing she 's a child psychologist and allows the demented woman to spend time with her son . time and time again , things do not add up in this movie .
if a viewer ca n't accept this fact , then he will definately not like the ex .
if , on the other hand , he can appreciate the movie for its campiness , then he 'll probably like it much better .
i do n't mean to necessarily suggest , however , that the ex is a memorable exercise in camp .
even when viewed from an it's - so - bad - it's - good angle , this movie is n't all that successful .
the ex does have its moments , though , almost all of which involve yancy butler ( the psychotic diedre ) and nick mancuso ( david ) .
these two actors turn in decidedly hammy performances which , oftentimes , elicit chuckles from the audience .
the truly awful lines written for them help this humor along .
butler gets the larger portion of bad dialogue ; every time her character kills someone , she has a punchline that 's unbelievably inane .
when she murders a tenant of an apartment she wishes to use to spy on david , for example , diedre whacks the elderly lady with a crowbar and states
" i 'm so sorry , your lease is terminated .
"
or how about when diedre takes out her therapist in another ridiculous scene ?
( diedre 's therapist wishes to have her recommitted ,
so she decides to visit diedre , alone , in her new apartment -- never realizing , of course , that it 's not her 's .
therapists typically are catatonically brain - dead in these movies ) .
having successfully snuffed the woman out , diedre looks at the body and says : " what was it that you always said to me at the end of each session , dr .
jones ?
oh , that 's right . '
i 'm sorry , but your time is up ! '
"
this is what passes for humor in the film .
the audience does n't necessarily laugh but groan ( the type of groan that suggests the audience ca n't believe they 're watching this crap -- although watching it they are ) .
nick mancuso 's chainsmoking , nervous - wreck character does not have the cheesy lines that butler 's character delivers , but his ridiculously overdone performance provides for some better comic relief .
in between drags off his cigarette , for instance , in one of the movie 's best scenes , david tries to explain to his lawyer what a creep his ex - wife is .
in exaggerated exasperation , he nearly shouts " the woman is a cuckoo - bird ! "
( trust me , it is funny in context . )
and so , the movie continues until its painfully obvious conclusion .
i wo n't reveal the ending specifically ( though anyone remotely familiar with thrillers of this type could probably guess the ending just from this film review ) , but i will say that the ex has one of the biggest fire hazards appearing recently in film .
molly and david own a cabin that becomes engulfed by flames in approximately three seconds !
molly , at one point in the film , not - so - brilliantly observes , after discovering diedre has moved into an apartment across from her family 's to spy upon them , that " she 's crazy .
" you 'd be pretty crazy too if you 'd rented this turkey
.
i 'd avoid it unless it 's on tv
and you come across it .
if you do , you may want to watch it , groan at the bad punchlines and stupid plot , and feel good that you did n't spend money renting it .
N

perhaps best remembered as the recently departed news anchor on saturday night live who always started the segment with " .
.. this is the fake news , " norm macdonald , at times , could elicit some laughter by blurting out semi - offensive phrases in his raspy voice , coated with a condescending attitude .
his shtick was marked by crassness .
in this movie , for example , when his girlfriend says that she 's kicking him out because he 's been fired from 14 different jobs over the last 3 months , he tries to calm the situation by saying , " maybe you 'll feel better after we have some dirty sex .
"
this kind of humor can only go so far , but certainly ca n't go the distance in a full - length feature .
" dirty work " , is nothing more than a sophomoric comedy about two best friends who grow up only physically .
emotionally , they 've never outgrown their pubescent years , which is somewhat amusingly explored in a beginning flashback .
although having no apparent real world skills ,
the one thing that these two have always been adept at is getting back at people .
if the meter maid was unjust in giving you a ticket , then dump a bunch of unpopped kernels of corn onto the engine block and watch the car burst apart .
mitch ( norm macdonald ) and sam (
artie lange ) need to come up with $ 50 , 000 in a period of two weeks so that sam 's dad ( jack warden ) can have a heart operation .
their idea is to start a revenge - for - hire business where they 'll do your dirty work .
in the funniest scene ( and possibly the only funny scene ) of the movie , they take advantage of a live television shoot at a nearby used car lot .
their presence is established , but when a less - than - honorable real estate developer hires them and then reneges on the payment , the two go to work to exact their sordid brand of revenge .
by default , dirty work should treat us to some outrageous revenge plots , but it delivers jerky boys level material .
except for the bit at the used car lot ( and possibly another episode that involves frat brothers ) , the dirty work is uninspired and becomes about as funny as a prank phone call .
already weak on material , it further spirals itself towards the video store by having jack warden constantly blurt out that he has an unsatisfied libido and needs ' broads ' and
also includes a very unfunny chevy chase as a bumbling doctor with a gambling addiction .
but what 's really painfully evident is that norm macdonald has no versatility as an actor .
relying on his trademark of speaking into his personal recorder and saying " note to self " ( " note to self : learn to fight , " he says after getting beat up ; " note to self : there 's always beer , " he says after hitting rock bottom ; etc . )
, we feel like we 're just watching an elongated rehash of his not - so - glorious days on saturday night live .
much like the television show , for 90 minutes we get one or two funny bits .
the rest of the story is just dead space .
N