Film Review: Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)

When a family moves into a supposedly haunted house, Finn opts to spend the holidays engrossed in his video games. But when thieves attempt to break into the house to steal priceless art that was hidden in a secret room by bootleggers, Finn has to arrange traps and outwit the crooks to defend his house and his sister.

Well, at least they aren't bastardising the McCallister family again. The fifth Home Alone film attempts to stand out on its own with its focus on video game addiction (although, funnily enough, it is gamer techniques and even the help of a stranger online that helps Finn win the day in the end). I'll even say that the way it incorporates a historic house with a secret room used in the bootlegging days is kinda neat. There is a whole shtick where Finn believes the house is haunted, which factors into the story in a few ways, but I think it could have been a stronger element. It's pretty harmless in the end, with some goofy antics, but there are moments where it feels like the film tries to break the mold somewhat. There's even an amusing montage where Finn tries to buy $2K worth of tools at a hardware store, but winds up walking away with a reel of twine.

Sadly, other aspects to the film struggle to impress. The traps and home defense scenes are barely memorable, and easily some of the weakest of the series. The melodrama pads out the movie somewhat, serving little more than to find an excuse for the kid to actually be home alone rather than adding any heart or depth. Nothing in the film's quality helps—it's blandly filmed with functional, but not exceptional, editing. Performances are fair. The biggest name here is Malcolm McDowell as the villain, but a man of his stature deserves better. Christian Martyn plays the lead as Finn, and he's fine—thankfully not as obnoxious as the last couple of leads, but there are moments where I wish this kid could have gotten his act together quicker.

Everything about this production comes across as mundane—from the script to the execution, it exists simply for its own sake. In the age of Internet streaming, it could be pegged as merely "content," offering a familiar story with no real flair or anything of interest. Superficially entertaining, but notably weak.

3/10