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Home Alone
EMAILPRINTTwentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 9 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 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.)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Bicentennial Man Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Mrs. Doubtfire Rent Stepmom
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
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...
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
