|
Year
: 1990
Director:
Chris Columbus
Starring:
Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci,
John Candy. |
Home Alone
Plot
hole - what plot hole.
The
story centres around Kevin, an 8 year
old who gets left home alone by accident, in his
family's rush to the Airport for their Christmas
vacation in France - only realising their mistake
when its too late and they are already far away.
Kevin relishes the chance to have the run of the
house himself, that is until the house comes under
attack from two burglars who attempt to ransack
the house, but can Kevin keep them at bay long
enough for help to arrive.
Ok
lets get it over with first - the ridiculous conceit
of the parents forgetting to take their child with
them on holiday - ok have you got it out of your
systems? Then I'll begin. Lets bear in mind that
its a kids movie ok - so the plot doesn't matter
that much (just as well as this is a John Hughes
script). Where it works is that it is amongst the
slapstick there are some genuinely very inventive
traps and gags. Culkin's naive acting
actually stands him in good stead for both his
portrayal as the smart child and, more especially,
for the comedic aspect of his role. But the real
stars of the film, and the ones who ultimately
make the film watchable are Pesci and Stern who
make a terrific double act as the bumbling crooks
Harry and Marv. Pesci's role is all the more pleasing
given his previous role was the psychotic gangster
in Goodfellas (the film rather than the Pizza).
Yes
its corny, and parts of it are plain dumb, but
its Christmas the right time of the year for dumb
fun. Enjoy
yourself and forget about the ridiculous central
pivot of the plot.
Home
Alone is
placed at December 5th on our Christmas
movies guide (USA edition).
Buy
this film and more from our Christmas
DVD store in association with Amazon.com
