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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Home Alone

EMAILPRINTTwentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Home Alone reviews
63
8.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 9 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Crime  |  Family/Kids

Written by: John Hughes

Directed by: Chris Columbus

Release Date:
Theatrical: November 16, 1990
DVD: October 5, 1999

Running Time: 103 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for action violence and some rude humor

Starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Catherine O'Hara, and John Candy

Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister has become the man of the house, overnight! Accidentally left behind when his family rushes off on a Christmas vacation, Kevin gets busy decorating the house for the holidays. But he's not decking the halls with tinsel and holly. Two bumbling burglars are trying to break in, and Kevin's rigging a bewildering battery of booby traps to welcome them! (20th Century Fox Corp.)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

The New York Times Cartyn James

Kevin has the potential to be the mawkish child or the obnoxious little adult so common on screen, but he is neither. Played with great glee by Macaulay Culkin, he is a totally endearing, up-to-the-minute little boy.

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80

Washington Post Jeanne Cooper

This holiday contender from John Hughes is too crass, too loud and too violent to be added blithely to Christmas viewing traditions. But it is funny.

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70

Washington Post Hal Hinson

The movie has a big payoff; it's the setup that's the drag. But Kevin's antics will touch the budding subversive in every kid. My advice? Hide the car keys.

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67

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Even though Macaulay Culkin's alternately muggy and inexpressive lead performance hasn't worn well, the supporting turns by Catherine O'Hara and John Candy are especially crackerjack, as is John Williams' buoyantly cartoony score.

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67

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Home Alone is the apex, the pinnacle, the culmination of every bad bit Hughes has ever written or directed. It overflows with primitive, disastrously unfunny sight gags and neo-hateful familial humor.

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63

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

All plausibility is gone, we sit back, detached, to watch stunt men and special effects guys take over a movie that promised to be the kind of story audiences could identify with.

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63

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

The first half of Home Alone features the sugar-coated sentimentality that can usually be found in a Hughes film, while the second half is full of unanticipated sadism.

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60

Empire Ian Nathan

So it may not be Citizen Kane, but it is a hilarious comedy (although not a very believable one — there can be no eight-year-olds this ingenious) that kids will love and adults won’t mind sitting through either.

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50

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The movie is quite enjoyable as long as it explores the fantasy of a neglected little boy having an entire house of his own to explore and play in, but the physical cruelty that dominates the last act leaves a sour taste, and the multiple continuity errors strain one's suspension of disbelief to near the breaking point.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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