‘Home Sweet Home Alone’ Complicates a Christmas Classic

Warning: This review may contain spoilers for Home Sweet Home Alone.

Home Sweet Home Alone attempts to do what many have done before — bring new carnage to this chaotic Christmas classic.

And like the many unnecessary Home Alone reboots, this movie fails to make a meaningful-enough mark on Kevin McCallister’s legacy. It certainly attempts to tread new ground, and that Disney money fights an aged concept with expensive trappings.

Regardless, time and money fail to evolve these homesick retellings. No attempt seems to grasp the heart of the original duology or the simplicity of abandoning one’s child in the midst of a criminal caper.

Home Sweet Home Alone does manage to be the most likeable reboot in recent memory. That does not justify its existence, but it does make this cheap money grab easier to swallow.

Archie Yates is a strong, capable choice to lead this attempt. He’s witty in ways that mimic Macaulay Culkin’s scene-stealing charm well. It’s not his fault the film goes out of its way to overcomplicate his role and paint him as an antagonist for the sake of misdirection.

Aisling Bea has big shoes to fill as the motherly successor to Catherine O’Hara, and she does what she can given the limited emotional beats she shares with Yates.

There are clever easter eggs for fans of the original, something Disney is hoping will sweeten the debate to press play on this one. From Devin Ratray’s Buzz appearing as the neighbourhood’s incompetent police officer to the McCallister Home Security sign on Max’s lawn, gifts of fanfare are everywhere.

For a film that cares little about the magic of the original and is eager to appeal to a new generation, these callbacks are likely to fall on deaf ears.

Home Sweet Home Alone decides to flip the script and have the burglars of this caper operate as misunderstood good guys. It’s a concept that could and does work at times under the guise of Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney’s tragically-poor couple.

Unfortunately, by painting these struggling homeowners as underdogs, more time is spent fleshing them out than relating to the child who is, in fact, home alone. In a plea to be innovative, this film completely ignores the reason for its existence.

This makes it impossible to root for Max. He is a spoiled child trashing his house at the first inconvenience, and for a good portion of this story, he is also a thief. His journey is forced to mimic Kevin’s but is completely stripped of the child-like whimsy of cardboard-cutout dance parties or TV trickery.

The battle plan has promise but with bleak physical comedy and moral compasses clouding a basic blueprint, this Christmas classic is complicated for no good reason.

Not one aspect of this film feels organic or subtle, and how could it when the premise revolves around leaving a child in one of the three cars this family owns. The plot relies on ridiculous conflict and misunderstandings to duplicate the original burglary.

What it doesn’t hinder on is technology. This criminally confusing plot goes out of its way to explain why technology is not a viable option. It spends too long explaining the lack of landlines, but zero time justifying why a child in a mega-house wouldn’t have access to a phone.

Instead of using modern-day applications to its advantage, Home Sweet Home Alone struggles to remove communication from the equation.

Minor inconveniences drag out this plot to its big midnight showdown. Unfortunately, there is no real justification for this conflict to go on for days, begging the question: can they not break in and still be home for dinner?

Home Sweet Home Alone tackles sophisticated arguments for taxing the rich and lowering the inflated housing market. But there’s nothing sophisticated about a child decimating his house and once you allow us to see things from the perspective of the adult, there’s no closing those bitter flood gates.

This violent slaughter of holiday-movie magic may be packaged in fancier wrapping but the hollow cheer and fumbling of this promising cast make me want to hate the Kevins of this world a little more, and that’s not the ideal takeaway.

The fact remains, there is no need to humour these revisits with a perfectly good Catherine O’Hara and Macaulay Culkin-led classic sitting right there — uncomplicated and unmatched in its timeless chaos.

And Disney, if you are going to continue this diabolical plot to drag every beloved childhood franchise out in front of us and publically execute it, please just let Night at the Museum rest in peace.

—

What did you think of Home Sweet Home Alone? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Home Sweet Home Alone is streaming November 12th on Disney Plus.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

Alicia’s Top 10 TV Movies of 2020