I know I have said this before, but if someone wants to remake a movie, my general criteria are this: have a real purpose to doing so beyond really liking the original, and remake something that is not considered an all-time classic. Most remakes don’t do that. They either stick too slavishly to the original, don’t really do anything to justify the new one, and often do go with a very well-known and beloved movie.
Case in point, Disney+ just dropped a remake/sequel/whatever to Home Alone titled Home Sweet Home Alone. Quite frankly, I really like the original movie there. Heck, I’ll even admit to enjoying the climactic battle inside the house of the third movie. True, the Home Alone series is fairly formulaic, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t generally good at what it did, at least for the theatrically-released movies. I never really expected much is the point. So, will that low bar be enough to justify Home Sweet Home Alone?
The Home Alone plot is a basic one: a boy is accidentally left home alone for Christmas when his family goes on vacation somewhere far away. While home alone, he does a lot of kid stuff while defending the house from thieves. The culmination is a massive, slapstick battle between the boy, who set a mess of booby traps, and the thieves who can’t stop themselves from setting them off. The new movie does essentially follow that formula, complete with a cameo appearance by actor Devin Ratray, reprising his role as Buzz McCalister, older brother to original boy Kevin, here as a cop who doesn’t believe the home alone story because he lived through it himself twice and believes it’s all a prank. This time around, the boy is Max Mercer (Jojo Rabbit‘s Archie Yates) and the burglars are married couple Pam and Jeff McKenzie (Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney).
So, small problem: as the movie presents itself, Pam and Jeff are not the villains of the piece and Max looks pretty bad. Jeff had lost his job and they were planning one final Christmas in their home with their two kids and Jeff’s well-off, trendy brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. While holding an open house, Max and his mother Carol (Aisling Bea) stop in to allow the boy to use the bathroom after he had impulsively drank far too many sodas. Max asks Jeff about a collection of porcelain dolls that Jeff got from his mother, particularly one ugly one with an upside down face. After the open house, Jeff learns the doll is incredibly valuable, but it’s also missing. It sure does look like the rather bratty Max took it, and after a series of mishaps, he learns Max’s house should be empty but Max was, of course, left home alone. As such, the only thing Jeff and Pam are trying to do is get the doll back, and Max believes they’re out to do something else.
But since Max comes across as a potential thief and a brat to begin with, and he’s far more obnoxious than Kevin McCallister ever was, and all that Jeff and Pam are trying to do is retrieve one missing item that will save their house while trying to be good parents themselves, it really does feel like Max’s antics are more spiteful than funny. The McKenzie’s don’t really deserve this level of punishment, even if they are breaking the law by simply entering the house (a fact they both acknowledge). They aren’t greedy or malicious, at least until Max starts hurting them. And for all that Kemper and Delaney are comedically gifted performers, neither can take a pratfall as well as either Joe Pesci or Daniel Stern. Plus, something about Max’s booby traps didn’t strike me as being that funny anyway.
So, really, this was a bad remake featuring an obnoxious kid trying to hurt a pair of people trying to save their home. And when the third act finale comes in and the misunderstandings are straightened out, well…I just wasn’t feeling it. This is one Home Alone I wish I had just left alone.
Grade: D
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