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.

Over the holiday season my wife and I watched all 6 Home Alone movies.

1 is a classic. 2 should have deviated a bit more for my tastes. 3 was a mess but a parrot capable of critical thought kept me engaged. 4 was an absolute disaster of a movie. 6 was trash. My expectations were low as we rolled into this one but I was pleasantly surprised. It deviated from the formula. Someone actually wrote this movie! I laughed multiple times, it kept me engaged throughout. The booby traps were funny. Hats off! Definitely underrated.

The Home Alone franchise pumps out a fifth attempt at recapturing what the first two managed to achieve. In this sequel, the Baxter family moves into a creepy old house in which people believe may be haunted. The young Baxter child named Finn is left home alone (with his sister...) while his parents go off to some fancy Christmas party. Meanwhile, there are three thieves who want to break in to the house and try to retrieve a very expensive painting. Finn discovers their plan, and in true Home Alone fashion, sets up numerous booby traps that will no doubt lead to some bruised and battered bad guys.

Home Alone 5 does a few things well. I liked the location shots of the creepy old house, and I really liked the villains in this film. In fact, I found the most enjoyable parts where when the three thieves were on- screen. Malcolm McDowell, Debi Mazar and Eddie Steeples are terrific as the bumbling criminals. Everything other than that is a failure. The boy is never REALLY home alone. His sister is locked in the basement downstairs after trapping herself in the walk in vault where the expensive painting is. I did not like some of the acting from the family, and I did not like the direction they took with some of the characters. The mother is written as just some over-hyper super bitch, who doesn't seem to give a damn about her kids most of the time. It was a weird dynamic between her and the rest of the family. Oh and like every other who tried to match him, The child actor in this one is no where close to Macaulay Culkin and his performance in the original films. He isn't bad, but with these sequels you can't help but compare to the best of the best.

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist does try, a lot more than the dreadful Home Alone 4 did. However it just isn't a great movie nor does it add ANYTHING to the Home Alone franchise. I always appreciated the third film because it branched off a bit from the usual cookie-cutter plot of the previous two Home Alone films, but this one stuck to simplicity.

4/10

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.

It took me years to watch this one. The first two Home Alone movies are great. I might like the second a little more than the first but it really is a battle for first. I used to hate the third one until I saw part 4 and now it's up to okay. The fourth one was abysmal.

So now we have Holiday Heist as another way to cash in on the franchise. I think I like the story on this one a little bit more but I can't for the life of me figure out why Malcolm McDowell is in this. I guess since it worked for Joe Peschi, it should work for him.

So like this kid who is obsessed with video games moves in with his parents and his sister into a new house. Kid (who's name is Finn) thinks the house is haunted so he sets traps for the ghosts. Meanwhile Malcolm McDowell, Snoop Dogg and some chick are planning to break into the house to steal some painting so naturally this leads to what all Home Alone movies lead to: the traps.

As expected, they are pretty lame. Like Malcolm McDowell gets wrapped like a present, thrown downstairs and end up under a Christmas tree. Poor Malcolm even hangs upside down on Christmas lights. Chick gets stuck in a window. I mean, the traps are better than 4 but that film is so bad that anything can only go up from there.

Now that I can say I watched all the Home Alone movies, I'll pretend the last two doesn't exist. Every now and then on Christmas, I'll watch the third one but the first two is always a Christmas tradition. This one is not.