Home Alone (1990)
    
Succeeded by:
Home
Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
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Director:
Chris
Colombus |
COUNTRY
USA |
Genre
Comedy |
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Alene
hjemme |
RUNNING
TIME
102
minutes |
|
Producer:
John Hughes |
Screenwriter:
John Hughes |
Review
Hollywood had been yearning for a new child star
since at least Ron Howard when prodigy Macaulay Culkin was launched into
superstardom through this bubbling and vivacious film by director Chris Colombus
and writer/producer John Hughes. In retrospect, it's difficult not to attribute
the film's mega-success to several factors clicking into place at once: One is
the clever concept of abandonment of a child, which is every child's combined
fear and dream as well as every parent's nightmare. The basic concept was easily
identifiable for all members of the family. Another is the film's not
insignificant mean-streak; there's a sweet guilty pleasure watching our little
hero sticking it to the bad guys. The mind-over-muscle showdown reciprocates
Hughes' earlier works, only here it's executed by a kid rather than the nerd or
outcast. The satisfaction is largely the same. And the third (and perhaps most
important) point is young Culkin's charm and star-power. He didn't have the
naturalness of Ricky Schroder or the depth of Elijah Wood, but he had the
confidence and force to carry the film seemingly indefatigably on his shoulders.
No wonder everyone – both young and old – fell in love with him.
Home Alone still retains its
effect today because its best qualities are largely timeless. That goes
for John Williams' score, it goes for the well-balanced level of
sentimentality, and it goes for the Christmas theme. In addition to
that, the film had the perfect combination of warmth and spite (which
unfortunately went askew in the follow-up film
Home
Alone 2: Lost in New York).
If ever there was a modern day
It's a
Wonderful Life, this is it.
Re-reviewed:
Copyright © 05.01.2015 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
Original review: Copyright © 18.06.1996 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
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