Home Alone: The Holiday Heist

It took me years to watch this one. The first two Home Alone movies are great. I might like the second a little more than the first but it really is a battle for first. I used to hate the third one until I saw part 4 and now it's up to okay. The fourth one was abysmal.

So now we have Holiday Heist as another way to cash in on the franchise. I think I like the story on this one a little bit more but I can't for the life of me figure out why Malcolm McDowell is in this. I guess since it worked for Joe Peschi, it should work for him.

So like this kid who is obsessed with video games moves in with his parents and his sister into a new house. Kid (who's name is Finn) thinks the house is haunted so he sets traps for the ghosts. Meanwhile Malcolm McDowell, Snoop Dogg and some chick are planning to break into the house to steal some painting so naturally this leads to what all Home Alone movies lead to: the traps.

As expected, they are pretty lame. Like Malcolm McDowell gets wrapped like a present, thrown downstairs and end up under a Christmas tree. Poor Malcolm even hangs upside down on Christmas lights. Chick gets stuck in a window. I mean, the traps are better than 4 but that film is so bad that anything can only go up from there.

Now that I can say I watched all the Home Alone movies, I'll pretend the last two doesn't exist. Every now and then on Christmas, I'll watch the third one but the first two is always a Christmas tradition. This one is not.

What can I really say about this film? The kid is stupid (he didn't even know he had to pay at a hardware store) and annoying, the entire plot revolves around ghosts (?) and overall the film was pretty much painful to watch. Luckily I had friends there so we could play MST3K and ridicule the film's stupidity. This film is only really fun if you are drunk or prepared to laugh at it. I would go into a rant about how awful this flick is, but it's so forgettable and ridiculous that I don't have much to say. What I will say, though, is that it at least is a better effort than 4, but it's still a God-awful movie and one that deserves to be quickly forgotten and buried in an unmarked grave.

...Stick with the first three.

Over the holiday season my wife and I watched all 6 Home Alone movies.

1 is a classic. 2 should have deviated a bit more for my tastes. 3 was a mess but a parrot capable of critical thought kept me engaged. 4 was an absolute disaster of a movie. 6 was trash. My expectations were low as we rolled into this one but I was pleasantly surprised. It deviated from the formula. Someone actually wrote this movie! I laughed multiple times, it kept me engaged throughout. The booby traps were funny. Hats off! Definitely underrated.

my problem with this film is that the bad guys were not bad people. He was a treasure hunter at best and cared for nothing but a painting. and the other two were dumb, but nice the entire movie,

even in the car scene, "sit down and put on your seat belt"

The reason the first 3 were so great is because we rooted for the kid to win, he is the underdog against dirty, ruthless criminals. Not the case for this movie. I found myself feeling bad for the criminals being attacked, and the attack were so so, i understand there budget isn't there but with todays technology. you can do better Hollywood! everything was so much more well done and real looking in the originals.

I saw the hidden meaning, that kids are isolated with video games/cell phones and should get back to real life, but every-time i watched the kid.. His character to very bratty, cocky and not charming.

Im sure kids will love it, not a bad movie, just lacked and didn't feel "real life" enough.

2.5/5

The Baxters move into their new Maine house for the mother's new job with her boss Mr. Carson (Edward Asner). They don't know the house once belonged to a bootlegger with a rumored valuable missing painting. Older daughter Alexis (Jodelle Ferland) don't like the move. Younger son Finn is always playing his video game. He discovers a walk-in safe in the basement and befriends neighbor Mason who warns him that his house is haunted. Sinclair (Malcolm McDowell), Jessica (Debi Mazar) and idiot safecracker Hughes (Eddie Steeples) are thieves looking to sneak in and steal all the valuables.

There are lots of great actors especially the bumbling villains. I'm actually surprised but I guess that even Malcolm McDowell needs to eat. The lead kid is not good enough and a little too old for an adorable role. It's not all his fault. There is no comparison to the fun of the original. By the time the iconic home-made traps appear, it becomes a sad copy rather than a fun homage. This movie is completely flat with no actual humor. The great actors can't do much other than collecting paychecks.