When you ask someone for their favorite Christmas movie, they’ll most likely say Home Alone. It’s a movie that everyone is always talking about. Some say it’s funny, heartwarming, even inspirational. None of this is true, or it’s just heavily exaggerated. These are the three main reasons people claim Home Alone is their favorite movie, but I disagree with all of them.
The humor in Home Alone is mediocre. It relies too heavily on slapstick humor. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, slapstick humor refers to physical harm used to create laughter. A good example would be The Three Stooges. In Home Alone, the burglars, the so-called “Wet Bandits,” are subjected to physical harm to get a laugh from the audience, with booby traps ranging from marbles to a makeshift flamethrower. Any one of the booby traps that Kevin sets up could have killed an average person. I’d be surprised if the Wet Bandits don’t suffer, at the bare minimum, severe brain trauma after the Saw-like contraptions Kevin built. That little psychopath clearly enjoys torturing the “Wet Bandits”. If you were to switch the genre from humor to horror, then you’d see the devil lingering behind Kevin’s laugh. And his bloodthirsty audience laughs along with him every single time. However, I understand that humor is subjective, and there are psychopaths who enjoy Home Alone for its comedy. But claiming you enjoy Home Alone because of the message it conveys is simply wrong.
As the most overrated movie, Home Alone is glorified for its supposed heartwarming message. When people say they love Home Alone, they often mention the message it contains. To that I say, what message? Be a horrible parent? It’s absurd to think you could forget your son. But they have an excuse! You might argue they just mistook the neighbor’s kid for Kevin, so they’re not at fault. However, are you telling me that family members can’t tell each other apart? And what about the car ride to the airport? Surely, someone would realize Kevin isn’t there. It’s simply unreasonable to believe that family members wouldn’t be able to identify each other.
Now, you may all point to how the movie is inspirational and how it’s about overcoming your fears. If you want an inspirational movie, don’t look towards Home Alone. There are countless movies with a better story and an inspirational message. Take a look towards some of the classics, for example, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). It’s a lovely film about the spirit of Christmas. It isn’t filled with cheap humor. It’s a heartfelt story about the struggles of an outcast. Throughout the movie, Rudolph grows as a character and is no longer the weak outcast he once was. He becomes a strong and confident reindeer, leading the charge in Santa’s sleigh.
I hate Home Alone because it’s hailed as the best Christmas movie. It guts the Christmas spirit and fills it with cheap humor and sappy moments. Movies like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are fantastic because they captivate the audience with what makes Christmas so special. Home Alone has never brought forth that feeling for me, and for that, I will never consider it to be a great Christmas movie.
