Double Feature – Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Home Alone (1990) is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies.  I could watch it all year long, over and over again!

8-year old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) gets left behind when his family leaves for Christmas in Paris.  At first, he is so happy to be in the house all by himself.  He eats his very own cheese pizza, jumps all over the beds, and goes through his older brother’s stuff.  Meanwhile, the McCallister’s are spending their entire vacation in Paris trying to find out if Kevin is okay and trying to get flights back home to spend Christmas with him.  Kevin does not realize how much he misses his family until a group  of burglars start to to rob the neighborhood, focusing on the McCallister home.  The ‘Wet Bandits’, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern),  will do anything to get into the McCallister home and take everything they have.  Little do they know how smart Kevin is, leading the burglars into a bunch of hilarious traps, which include paint cans, a hot iron, and even a blow torch.  Kevin encounters many scary and funny adventures while he is left home alone, such as grocery shopping for himself and stealing a toothbrush from a local pharmacy.    This cast also includes John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, and John Candy.

I give Home Alone 5 stars.  There is never a dull moment, with laughter in every scene.  The hi-jinks that get pulled off and all the creative ideas an 8-year old has to protect his home is just mind boggling.  Everytime I watch it, I laugh hysterically, and there are many parts of the movie that I can repeat or act out.  It is a Sullivan Family Favorite that is watched every year at this time!  I hope that you enjoy the film as much as my family does!

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

If you enjoyed Home Alone, get ready to to laugh even harder to its sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Macaulay Culkin is back as Kevin McCallister, and does not get left behind on the trip this time, or so we thought.  Kevin loses the rest of the McCallister family in the airport, and follows the wrong man onto a different plane.  When Kevin gets off the plane, he realizes that his family is in Florida, and he is in New York City!  Down in Florida, the family thinks they have everyone until baggage claim, and then the chaos starts again with trying to find out where their son has gone!  The police trace the credit cards back to New York and the McCallister search for flights to New York begins!  Kevin starts off his trip by staying in the ‘ding, dang, dong’ Plaza Hotel.  He visits Duncan’s Toy Chest and even enjoys a dip in the pool, as well as a little room service with his favorite ice cream!  As Kevin is walking around New York City, the ‘Wet Bandits’ have escaped from jail and run into Kevin, ready to fight back.  Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) are back as the ‘Sticky Bandits’ and are ready to rob Duncan’s Toy Chest.  Kevin finds out, and catches them in the act.  He leads them to his aunt and uncle’s place that is being renovated, and they are headed into another funhouse of traps, but this time it includes, bricks, kerosene, and a runaway tool chest, as well as some of the same traps as before.

I remember going to see Home Alone 2 in the theaters with my family and laughing harder than I laughed in the first movie.  I give this movie 5 stars as well.  The sequel was well done with all of the same characters as the first one, and the amount of traps was twice as much as the first film.  These are 2 movies that I highly suggest you add to your Christmas movie list!

If you want to learn more about the writer, the late John Hughes, check out our post we put up after his passing.