![]() Visually Mazer’s follow-up is far blander in every conceivable way but no attempt to revisit the franchise was ever going to come close and going in thinking as such is a fool’s errand. Chris Columbus’s original popped with colour, the McAllister house styled in aggressive reds and greens, a film that screamed Christmas in every frame. There’s a flat and familiar cheapness to Home Sweet Home Alone that quickly reminds us that we’re no longer in the 90s and no longer in the cinema but very much streaming at home in a world of low budgets and low expectations. His blandly anonymous show home house is set upon not by burglars but by a cash-strapped married couple, played by Delaney and Kemper, who believe that Max has stolen a vintage doll of theirs worth $200,000. Through the standard set of far-fetched circumstances, he’s left behind as the family head to Tokyo but initial bliss soon turns (a little too quickly this time) into crushing loneliness. ![]() Reviews have thus far been mostly disdainful but there’s an admirable sense of pluck to the film, as if those involved know very well they’re making something that doesn’t need to exist but they’re making the most of it anyway.Īrchie Yates, one of the least awful things about Taika Waititi’s mostly awful Jojo Rabbit, is the latest Kevin replacement, Max, undervalued and underappreciated by his family, headed up by Bea’s beleaguered mother. Their combined involvement has also attracted a funnier cast than anticipated, with This Way Up’s Aisling Bea, Kimmy Schmidt’s Ellie Kemper, Crashing’s Pete Holmes, Veep’s Timothy Simons and Catastrophe’s Rob Delaney alongside SNL favourites Kenan Thompson and Chris Parnell. What prevents the film from being just another limp bot-written recital is a surprisingly sharp sense of humour, with a script from the Saturday Night Live duo Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell and direction from Borat’s Dan Mazer, a more comically adept behind-the-camera team than one would expect from a Home Alone sequel. But dropping on Disney+ in time for its younger target audience to watch, rewatch and then watch again by the big day, Home Sweet Home Alone is a surprisingly entertaining, if wholly unnecessary, sequel, a tangerine where we expected to find a lump of coal. Saying it is better than 4 is like saying that AIDS is better than cancer, but it makes for a pleasant, one-off addition to your Xmas movie list.The prospect of yet another one, this time with some vague same universe ties to the first, has created more ire than these things usually do since the trailer dropped last month, a sign of both the original’s enduring fandom and an increased fatigue with revisiting and repeating well-worn property. And since the parents are loud, reactionary idiots I saw no point in wishing for them to reunite with their kids. Why should I root for a shut-in child and his torn-faced sister? John Williams gets a 'themes by' credit but approximately 1% of his famous Home Alone score is used, and on top of that it's a bit too loud and overbearing. But the thieves in this movie are not really that bad, and I kinda felt that they deserved to get the painting. Harry and Marv were the kind of idiots who made for good comedy when getting tortured. Kevin.I mean Finn, defends the house with booby traps while his sister is trapped in the hooch bar. Three bumbling thieves, including Malcolm "I'll do anything for a paycheck" McDowell and the unusually attractive Debi Mazar, want to get their hands on it and plan a robbery while the parents are at some Xmas party in the mountains. Hidden in the basement is a prohibition era hooch bar with a priceless painting hanging on the wall. Finn is a sorry reflection of today's youth. Kevin McCallister was a misfit, not a stereotype. Since most kids are like this nowadays I would have the preferred the unrealistic, healthy, proactive types. He's addicted to video games and she's addicted to staring at her cell phone. Finn Baxter (and his haircut from 1994) moves into an old house in New England with his parents and older sister. Now, 10 years later, Fox have went back to Home Alone for a new Xmas TV movie special. Back when Home Alone 4 came out, for some insane reason, I gave it an above-lukewarm review, which is a million times what it deserved as it was utterly terrible.
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