Home Alone
2 Oscar Nominations·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.
What critics thought
Home Alone landed with genuinely mixed notices on release, with critics split between affection for Macaulay Culkin's star-making turn and discomfort with the film's increasingly brutal slapstick. The premise was widely seen as thin stretched to feature length, though audiences embraced it far more warmly than most reviewers did — a gap that has only widened over the decades.
“they're the kinds of traps that any 8-year-old could devise, if he had a budget of tens of thousands of dollars and the assistance of a crew of movie special effects people”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“sadistic festival of adult-bashing”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
“vivid screen presence, almost incandescent with confidence”
Peter Bradshaw·The Guardian
“this film plays better as a trailer than as a full-length film”
Peter Rainer·Los Angeles Times
“Culkin walks a fine line between annoyance and endearment throughout the film.”
Ali Barclay·BBC
Genres
Comedy, Family
Cast & Crew
DirectorChris Columbus
StarringMacaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Roberts Blossom
ComposerJohn Williams
Home Alone
2 Oscar Nominations·National Film Registry
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.
What critics thought
Home Alone landed with genuinely mixed notices on release, with critics split between affection for Macaulay Culkin's star-making turn and discomfort with the film's increasingly brutal slapstick. The premise was widely seen as thin stretched to feature length, though audiences embraced it far more warmly than most reviewers did — a gap that has only widened over the decades.
“they're the kinds of traps that any 8-year-old could devise, if he had a budget of tens of thousands of dollars and the assistance of a crew of movie special effects people”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“sadistic festival of adult-bashing”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
“vivid screen presence, almost incandescent with confidence”
Peter Bradshaw·The Guardian
“this film plays better as a trailer than as a full-length film”
Peter Rainer·Los Angeles Times
“Culkin walks a fine line between annoyance and endearment throughout the film.”
Ali Barclay·BBC
Genres
Comedy, Family
Cast & Crew
DirectorChris Columbus
StarringMacaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Roberts Blossom
ComposerJohn Williams
Rent/Purchase