Home Alone Summary

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Home > Movies > H > Home Alone > Summary Home Alone is the highly successful and beloved family comedy about a young boy named Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) who is accidentally left behind when his family takes off for a vacation in France over the holiday season. Once he realizes they've left him "home alone," he learns to fend for himself and, eventually has to protect his house against two bumbling burglars (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) who are planning to rob every house in Kevin's suburban Chicago neighborhood. Though the film's slapstick ending may be somewhat violent, Culkin's charming presence helped the film become one of the most successful ever at the time of its release. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Synopsis
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister is accidentally left home alone by his family while they fly off to France for Christmas vacation. Kevin loves his freedom, delightedly gorging himself on sweets and staying up late -- until he is forced to defend his home from a team of burglers. But Kevin learns that self-defense can be fun too, as he goes about flying to defeat the bumbling thieves.

Review
New York Times, 11/16/1990, p.C12, "...Played with great glee by Macaulay Culkin....Endearing, up-to-the-minute..." USA Today, 11/16/1990, p.4D, "...Macaulay Culkin is the star atop this comedy tree..." Premiere, 04/01/2004, p.54, "[I]t's not just the cartoonish slapstick that made ALONE one of the most successful comedies of all time: It's the sweet heart and courageous tenacity of the kid himself." Total Film, 02/01/2007, p.128, 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] slapstick kiddie fantasy about an abandoned boy and some bumbling burglars."

Entertainment Weekly, 12/16/1994, pp.80-1, "...A live-action cartoon....[Culkin sets] the movie's overall tone..." -- Rating: B+ Los Angeles Times, 11/16/1990, p.F6, "...The ways in which its characters collide and carom off the walls are strictly funny-pages stuff....Macauley Culkin has the kind of crack comic timing that's missing in many an adult star..."

Title Note
Macauley Culkin's real-life brother, Kieran, appears as his fictional cousin, Fuller, in the film. Next-door neighbor Marley is played by Roberts Blossom. Blossom is best known to horror-movie fans as Ezra Cobb, the farmer and mass murderer in "Deranged". "Deranged" was based on the true story of Ed Gein, which also served loosely as the inspiration for "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Filmed on location in Chicago, Illinois. Shooting began February 14, 1990; completed May 16, 1990. Estimated budget $13 million. Color by Deluxe. Released in USA and Canada November 16, 1990. Released on video August 22, 1991. Film was, at the time, the third highest-grossing film of all time. Reviewed in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times 11/16/1990, and Monthly Film Bulletin 1/1990. Running time is listed as 102 minutes in most sources, with some sources listing either 98 minutes or 105 minutes. Rated BBFC PG by the British Board of Film Classification.

Product Notes
Eight year old Kevin MacAllister (Macaulay Culkin) gets lost in the shuffle as his large, upper-middle class suburban family rushes to make a plane that will ferry them off to their Christmas vacation in France; Kevin, having been banished to an attic room as punishment, is subsequently forgotten. At first this is a dream come true, as for the first time in his young life he has no one to answer to but himself, and he takes full advantage of his newfound freedom, eating junk food and watching late-night horror flicks. But when the bumbling Wet Bandits Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) target his house for a robbery, Kevin must step up to defend his home; he sets a maze of booby traps so elaborate that only an eight year old imagination could concoct them. Ultimately, Kevin learns the

importance of family during the holidays in a touching reunion with his clan that is highlighted by the film's amazing original score, which was nominated for an Academy Award.