'Home Sweet Home Alone' Review: A painfully dull rehash of a beloved classic
Spoilers for 'Home Sweet Home Alone'
Disney Plus just dropped the sixth movie in the 'Home Alone' series to try and cash in on the Christmas spirit but boy did it do absolutely nothing. 'Home Sweet Home Alone' is the most recent take on the holiday classic that people around the world tune in to enjoy with their families.
Nothing new, the story will see 10-year-old Max Mercer get left behind accidentally after his family leaves for a family vacation. Archie Yates, Ellie Kemper, and Rob Delaney star as the leads of 'Home Sweet Home Alone'. Read on to know our thoughts on the movie.
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'Home Sweet Home Alone' introduces us to Max Mercer (Archie Yates) who gets left behind while his family goes to Tokyo. Our burglars this time aren't professionals but instead just a couple who's trying to get back a priceless antique doll that think was stolen from them by Max. Pam (Ellie Kemper) and Jeff McKenzie (Rob Delaney) are forced to sell their house as they can't afford their mortgage anymore with the doll being their only way to keep their house. What follows is the same old story, but with new characters.
The sixth installment of the 'Home Alone' series is just not needed. The movie is packed with the same old tricks as Max lays out traps all around the house when he overhears the couple planning on breaking in. But what he interprets is that they're going to kidnap him and sell him to some old lady. From the frozen driveway to the abundance of legos, the heavy articles that swing on ropes to hit them in the face, the movie is chock full of rehashed tricks that is a complete bore. From the forced laughs to awkward attempts at funny faces Pam and Jeff just didn't do it for us.
One aspect that you won't be able to miss is the falls. The couple takes too many falls as they make their way about the house and when we say too many, we mean waaay too many. The movie also tries to sneak in some throwbacks as we see Buzz McCallister (Devin Ratray) from the '90s classics make a cameo as a police officer who references Kevin. We also see one of the characters say, "I don't know why they're always trying to remake the classics as they're never as good as the originals". Well, that may have been put in there as a cheeky way to acknowledge what the audiences are thinking and soften the blow on themselves, but it just made us roll our eyes.
Archie Yates does a good job as Max with Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney as Pam and Jeff trying their best to induce a laugh. Carol Mercer (Aisling Bea) just doesn't display the same urgency as Catherine O'Hara's Kate McCallister, when she finds out her son is left behind with her Britishness just not working the scenario.
'Home Sweet Home Alone' is just a sad rendition of the classics. But don't hate the actors for it, they're just doing their job. If you want to blame someone then it's the ones who gave the nod to the movie. One question rang throughout our mind the whole time and that is why- just why? Why even make another film which can't come even a bit close to the original. Our advice - just rewatch 'Home Alone' 1 and 2 again to relieve the joy that they bring + Macaulay Culkin who we dearly love as Kevin.
'Home Sweet Home Alone' is now streaming on Disney+.