Who hasn’t dreamed about being left alone at home as a kid. I like to think that I would scream a lot less though. – Will

A young boy is accidentally left alone at home when his entire family flies to Paris at Christmas time. Two bumbling burglars attempt to rob his house and it’s up to one little boy to stop them.

Directed by – Chris Columbus

Written by – John Hughes

Starring – Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Roberts Blossom, Catherine O’Hara, Angela Goethals, Devin Ratray, Gerry Bamman, Hillary Wolf, John Candy, Larry Hankin, Michael C. Maronna, Kristin Minter, Diana Rein, Jedidiah Cohen, Kieran Culkin, Senta Moses, Anna Slotky, Terrie Snell, Jeffrey Wiseman, Virginia Smith, Matt Doherty, Ray Toler, Ralph Foody, Michael Guido

How I skipped a review for this one last year is beyond me. This is a great Christmas movie and really plays to the kid in all of us. Its got to be a universal feeling for kids to want to be left home alone at least once. Ice cream for dinner every day, pizza for lunch and staying up all night to watch movies that you’re not supposed to. I’m sure I had that dream as a kid and I know my kids wish that would happen for at least one day. I had to remind them that I’m the one who cooks for them before they started plotting my disappearance!

Very easy story here. Culkin gets left home alone when his family heads to Paris for Christmas. Culkin goes nuts in the house while two burglars are getting ready to rob the place. Now it’s up to Culkin to stop them with a wide array of inventive traps. Meanwhile his Mom is doing everything she can to get home to her son. That includes a little help from John Candy in a great bit part as a polka star, if that’s even really possible.

They still pull this one now and again but do this around me and I may slap you now!

Macaulay Culkin was a cute little bugger back then but I still find the excessive amounts of him running and screaming a little annoying. Thankfully he could also pull off a slight amount of smart-ass in his acting ability and some of the conversations he has with the adults in the film are hilarious. There’s a sweet part with the creepy neighbour who isn’t the psychotic murderer that Kevin (Culkin) thinks he is but the biggest part of the story is the two bumbling burglars Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) and how they get outsmarted by a ‘kindergardener’.

Watching these two meet their match in an 8 year old is priceless.

I could care less about anything else that happens in the film once Pesci and Stern start getting their plan to rob Kevin’s house thwarted over and over again. There’s an insane amount of physical comedy from the pair of them as they slip, slide, smash, crash and burn their way through the film. Like any great comedy team there’s a smart one and a stupid one but in the end they both wind up losers. How can you not enjoy some of the really creative ways that Kevin comes up with to stop the two robbers!

Directed by Chris Columbus and written by one of the best, John Hughes, you know you’re in for a great ride. Hughes manages to touch on subjects that anyone can relate to with humour and drama. As ridiculous as the entire situation seems, it still manages to play out so realistically that you never feel like you’re just watching some over the top movie, even though that’s exactly what it is. Do your best to avoid the sequels, although the second one doesn’t hurt too much. You can’t beat the first in the series though and it should be a yearly tradition in everyone’s home.

Under the marquee – Will