Monday, November 29, 2021

Movie Review: "Home Sweet Home Alone"



Overall Thoughts: Obnoxious, questionable remake is a near disaster.

I never honestly cared too much for the original Home Alone. I watched it a few times with my cousin in the car, but it was never honestly a movie that really stuck with me as a kid. So, what happens when you want to try to reboot a classic franchise? Well, you flip a coin and hope for the best. Sometimes, it can work. But in many cases, it really proves to be unnecessary.

And the latter is definitely the case here. Because Home Sweet Home Alone is one of the worst movies of 2021. I went into the film hoping for a fun, old-school throwback of a remake, with Saturday morning cartoon style antics. And yes, the movie does have a Saturday morning cartoon vibe to it. But, the way it is executed and written is among the most ridiculous and laziest I have seen in a Hollywood production in quite some time.

How bad is the writing? Well, if all of the shenanigans are based on two very simple and very obvious misunderstandings, then you know that they could have made the characters more intelligent. The overall maturity of some of the adults in this film is 2000's Nickelodeon sitcom embarrassing. The gags are forced and generate almost no laughs. The dialogue is too self-aware and comes across as a "trying too hard" vibe. Of course, the whole premise of the plot is started by a huge family departing for vacation and accidentally leaves one behind. But, in this version, the circumstances are even more unbelievable than in the last one. I honestly am surprised there was no rewrite commissioned on this one.

And the main character...well, he is super obnoxious and annoying. Thus, he is very hard to root for. This is absolutely no offense intended at Archie Yates. He did a terrific job in Jojo Rabbit and I'm happy he got a big role. I really wish the writing for his character made him a much more sympathetic character. Max is a spoiled, ungrateful brat here. Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney play the "thieves" in this movie, and they are absolutely trapped by absolutely atrocious and immature writing for their characters. Not to mention that they aren't villainous at all, and I almost feel bad for how they are treated. And the side characters here are bland, stale, and cliched.

When things finally do calm down, in the last 10 minutes, the film finally finds a little bit of holiday cheer and heart. The characters become a lot nicer and settle misunderstandings. However, the very end wraps things up in a too tightly-wrapped bow per se, with an outcome that seems perhaps a little too hard to believe. There's also a scene that nods pretty cleverly to the original with a decent cameo and a few lines of dialogue that help connect the dots.

Other than that and maybe a couple of chuckles, Home Sweet Home Alone is pointless at best, ridiculously strange, immature and unnecessary at worst. It's not a family film worth streaming at home, trust me.

Grade: D

Is this movie family-friendly? Home Sweet Home Alone is rated PG for "slapstick violence, rude material, and some language." There's lots of slapstick here, with multiple pratfalls, gut punches, cruel tricks, kicks and crashes to be found. Someone gets a tooth knocked out. Another has her ribs injured. Someone's legs are set on fire briefly. Meanwhile, a couple of adult nods include Max trying to have the internet "show him its' worst" and parental controls blocking him. He also asks for a "booby trap", and the home system telling him "Booby" is restricted. Someone is called a "perv". Someone else mentioned a guy who looked through a "lady's underwear drawer". We hear a few uses of "oh my g**", one "crap", and an unfinished use of "bulls****". Max stuffs himself with junk food. A soda and doll is stolen. Authority is disrespected multiple times. Siblings treat each other rudely. We hear about someone's bathroom habits, and one character lets out a fart in someone else's face one time. People lie. In the end, while this movie is relatively clean, I would personally not recommend it for the kids' attitudes and behavior in the movie alone.