Home Alone is about a family who forgets to bring their troublesome youngest child, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), on their flight to Paris for Christmas. Meanwhile, a group of burglars are robbing houses in the area and Kevin must defend his with boobytraps.
The McCallisters are a huge family. Two daughters and three sons. Kevin is the youngest and still struggling with a group mentality. Being considerate is probably the first lesson in a big family, but as the littlest Kevin can't help feel cheated.
"I hope I never see any of you jerks again," he tells his Mother (Catherine O'Hara). "Then say it again. Maybe it will happen," she replies.
We've all heard this Motherly tone. O'Hara, who began her career as a comedic actor is well suited to playing a Mother. "If you keep this up we'll sell you to the gypsies," my Mom used to say to me. There's a quality to a Mother's voice when they say things like that to let us know they're kidding. Mostly.
We spend a bit of time getting to know the two burglars Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern). They need to be a likeable for us to invest in their upcoming torture. "Crowbars up," Harry says before they clink crowbars like wine glasses.
Kevin's first moments alone are every child's dream. If only his Mother could see him eating popcorn while jumping on the bed, or tobogganing down the stairs and out the front door.
You can tell they used a stunt kid for that toboggan scene. Culkin's Mother probably disapproved.
After awhile Kevin starts to miss his family. He even grows up a little, going shopping for fabric softener, milk, and microwave dinners. Then the traps are set. Micro Machines to slip on, tar covered stairs, and blow-torch rigged doors. This is for the kids in the audience. It brought me and many other kids to the theatre. There's something more here though.
Catherine O'Hara got a chance to reunite with John Candy in this film. The two got their start in the same place doing comedy at Second City in Toronto Canada in the 70s. I remember seeing them together in a photo at that Second City spread across an entire wall. It was probably the last time O'Hara saw Candy. He died in 1994. Life sometimes has a way of giving us these little miracles we're thankful for.
That's the magic that underlies Home Alone. The draw is a charming boy outwitting crooks with Micro Machine traps, but it wouldn't work without the backdrop of Christmas miracles.
I always thought the culmination of that spirit was when Kevin's Mom appears behind him on Christmas Day. A few years ago I started getting verklempt every time I saw it. Now the moment that hits me hardest is when Kevin smiles and waves at Harry in the back of the police car as they take him and Marv away. Have Yourself a Little Merry Christmas starts to play.
From now on we all will be together
If the fates allow
But 'til then we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
Everyone deserves to have a moment of Christmas. A moment with friends or family. Kevin deserves it. Kevin's Mom deserves it. Even Harry and Marv and deserve it. And yes, O'Hara and Candy deserved it too.
This post part of a collaboration project between 2dreviews and 2guys1movie. Jim and Puneet have kindly allowed me to experience their "1 movie + 1 review a day" for one week. Over on my site I do an "Auto-Film-Biography" that follows the movies I watched as a kid that made me love movies. Thanks very much to Jim and Puneet for allowing me to continue that project here for a week as a guest writer!
Every Christmas this movie comes on, every year I watch it at least 3 times. I enjoy the hell out of this movie. It really gives you that feeling of pseudo-freedom when you're a kid. I mean, there is no kid in the world that would ACTUALLY do this. But it is certainly fun to watch a kid humiliate two grown adults.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: First movie I saw with Joe Pesci.