Home Alone: The Holiday Heist

Bizarre. Simply bizarre. It was the death of the legacy of Home Alone. The cast was disgraceful. I am astounded and can't figure out why in the world would these actors were allowed to act in this movie. I was looking forward to it and am really disappointed. The story itself wasn't that bad. I have to admit that if it was a book and I read it when I was 7 years old, I might have had a good laugh but again we are talking about 'Home Alone' here. Not just any comedy movie series. As a kid I enjoyed all of the 'Home Alone' thoroughly and watched them over and over. Even as a 20 years old I have had a good laugh out of them. This on the other hand, awful.

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. Now, 10 years later, Fox have went back to Home Alone for a new Xmas TV movie special. It's watchable, but it ain't no classic.

Finn Baxter (and his haircut from 1994) moves into an old house in New England with his parents and older sister. He's addicted to video games and she's addicted to staring at her cell phone. Since most kids are like this nowadays I would have the preferred the unrealistic, healthy, proactive types. Kevin McCallister was a misfit, not a stereotype. Finn is a sorry reflection of today's youth.

Hidden in the basement is a prohibition era hooch bar with a priceless painting hanging on the wall. 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. Kevin...I mean Finn, defends the house with booby traps while his sister is trapped in the hooch bar.

Harry and Marv were the kind of idiots who made for good comedy when getting tortured. But the thieves in this movie are not really that bad, and I kinda felt that they deserved to get the painting. 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. And since the parents are loud, reactionary idiots I saw no point in wishing for them to reunite with their kids.

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.

my problem with this film is that the bad guys were not bad people. He was a treasure hunter at best and cared for nothing but a painting. and the other two were dumb, but nice the entire movie,

even in the car scene, "sit down and put on your seat belt"

The reason the first 3 were so great is because we rooted for the kid to win, he is the underdog against dirty, ruthless criminals. Not the case for this movie. I found myself feeling bad for the criminals being attacked, and the attack were so so, i understand there budget isn't there but with todays technology. you can do better Hollywood! everything was so much more well done and real looking in the originals.

I saw the hidden meaning, that kids are isolated with video games/cell phones and should get back to real life, but every-time i watched the kid.. His character to very bratty, cocky and not charming.

Im sure kids will love it, not a bad movie, just lacked and didn't feel "real life" enough.

2.5/5

The Baxters move into their new Maine house for the mother's new job with her boss Mr. Carson (Edward Asner). They don't know the house once belonged to a bootlegger with a rumored valuable missing painting. Older daughter Alexis (Jodelle Ferland) don't like the move. Younger son Finn is always playing his video game. He discovers a walk-in safe in the basement and befriends neighbor Mason who warns him that his house is haunted. Sinclair (Malcolm McDowell), Jessica (Debi Mazar) and idiot safecracker Hughes (Eddie Steeples) are thieves looking to sneak in and steal all the valuables.

There are lots of great actors especially the bumbling villains. I'm actually surprised but I guess that even Malcolm McDowell needs to eat. The lead kid is not good enough and a little too old for an adorable role. It's not all his fault. There is no comparison to the fun of the original. By the time the iconic home-made traps appear, it becomes a sad copy rather than a fun homage. This movie is completely flat with no actual humor. The great actors can't do much other than collecting paychecks.

What can I really say about this film? The kid is stupid (he didn't even know he had to pay at a hardware store) and annoying, the entire plot revolves around ghosts (?) and overall the film was pretty much painful to watch. Luckily I had friends there so we could play MST3K and ridicule the film's stupidity. This film is only really fun if you are drunk or prepared to laugh at it. I would go into a rant about how awful this flick is, but it's so forgettable and ridiculous that I don't have much to say. What I will say, though, is that it at least is a better effort than 4, but it's still a God-awful movie and one that deserves to be quickly forgotten and buried in an unmarked grave.

...Stick with the first three.