Home Alone 3 (1997)

Alex Pruitt, a young boy of nine living in Chicago, fends off thieves who seek a top-secret chip in his toy car to support a North Korean terrorist organization's next deed.

Director:

Raja Gosnell

Writer:

John Hughes

Stars:

Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, Rya Kihlstedt

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alex D. Linz	...	Alex Pruitt
Olek Krupa	...	Petr Beaupre
Rya Kihlstedt	...	Alice Ribbons
Lenny von Dohlen	...	Burton Jernigan
David Thornton	...	Earl Unger
Haviland Morris	...	Karen Pruitt
Kevin Kilner	...	Jack Pruitt
Marian Seldes	...	Mrs. Hess
Seth Smith	...	Stan Pruitt
Scarlett Johansson	...	Molly Pruitt
Christopher Curry	...	Agent Stuckey
Baxter Harris	...	Police Captain
James Saito	...	Chinese Mob Boss
Kevin Gudahl	...	Techie
Richard Hamilton	...	Cab Driver

Storyline

Four high-tech industrial spies, Beaupre, Alice, Jernigan and Unger, steal a top-secret microchip, and, to fool customs, hide it in a remote-control toy car. Through a baggage mix-up at the airport, grumpy old Mrs.Hess gets the toy and gives it to her neighbor, 8-year-old Alex. Spies want to get the toy back before their clients get angry and decide to burglarize every house at Alex's street to find the chip. But Alex is prepared for their visit...

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Plot Keywords:

airport | chicken pox | actor shares first name with character | home invasion | police | 

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Taglines:

It's bad news for bad guys... Again.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for slapstick violence, language and mild sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

Fox Fox Home Entertainment - DVD site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Polish

Release Date:

12 December 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Home Alone III

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,085,482, 14 December 1997, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$30,882,515

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$48,200,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox,Hughes Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Olek Krupa, Marian Seldes, Haviland Morris, Lenny von Dohlen, and David Thornton featured in the film, have all performed on Broadway, and at one time have been frequent guest stars on the NBC series Law & Order (1990), and its spinoffs.

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Goofs

It is very unlikely that every house on the street is empty during the daytime as Mr. Beaupre claims. Alex and Mrs. Hess would realistically not be the only ones home.

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Quotes

[Mr. Unger and Mr. Jernigan meet Beaupre, who just found Alex's toy car, at the Alcott's house]
Burton Jernigan: It's a video camera. Someone's onto us.
Earl Unger: Do you think this really matters? Chip's in the car. We're at the airport in 45 minutes.
Peter Beaupre: Where's Alice?
Alice: [as she pushes a baby stroller to the Alcott's shed] What happened?
Peter Beaupre: There's a woman in the house. I'll go back in and deal with her. Get the chip.
[Beaupre then hands Alice the car]

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Crazy Credits

In the on screen post credits, the word "Parrot" is misspelled when crediting Darren T. Knaus as "Voice of Parrott".

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Connections

References Night of the Living Dead (1968)

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Soundtracks

My Town
Written by Boi & Holly Wright
Performed by Cartoon Boyfriend
Produced by Rick Neigher

User Reviews

Not as bad as you'd think, but not as good as some of the reviews either

This is a small step down from the first two, but it's still above average. It's definitely not Alex Linz' fault - he's nearly as good Culkin here and nearly makes this a 'good' film. The story is both more implausible AND more interesting than the previous entries.

The problem here is that the final 30 minutes is a little scatterbrained and we start to miss Pesci and Company, AND some of the higher production values of the first two films. Sad too, because Linz and the set-up for the film are as good or better, but overall don't believe the hype that its as good or better than the previous two. First of all, its not. Second of all, the fact that its even close, especially given the new cast, is part of the reason its quality has been deceivingly escalated.

Decent 59/100