Film Review: Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

Max Mercer is left home alone when his family heads out on a trip to Japan and they just kinda forgot to bring him along. While they scramble to get back home, Max discovers that a couple is trying to break into their home with the goal of retrieving a valuable heirloom. When Max mishears their intentions, he believes they're trying to kidnap him, so he sets up a series of dangerous traps to thwart the would-be criminals.

A reboot designed to stream to families for Christmas on Disney+, this might be the most frustrating Home Alone movie to date (which really says something after all the gripes I had about the casting for Home Alone 4). Archie Yates plays Max as an insufferable brat. It'd be understandable if there was a maturity arc to him like there was in the original Home Alone, but not enough time is spent on that kind of development. The worst mistake this film makes is with the burglars. The film puts most of its focus on characterizing them as relatable, down-on-their-luck citizens simply trying to regain possession of their own property. All of the film's conflict is enabled through a fundamental misunderstanding. Literally all of this could have been avoided with a simple talk. They even try to reason towards the end, but the kid choses violence. Our sympathies wind up becoming twisted and confused—we've always rooted for the kid before to outsmart the buffoonish villains, but now it seemed like the kid became unreasonably violent and cruel. This happens precisely because the "villains" are no longer villains. There is a scene where Pam has her feet burned, and she lays on the snow crying—this hit way harder than a Home Alone film should have, and I realized I was rooting for the crooks and not the kid.

I see this as a fundamental failure in storytelling. Even though there seems to always be a big push to make villains relatable, this franchise demonstrates that this is not an approach that works for every story. Previous films worked perfectly fine with one-note villains with simple, selfish motivations that made us love to hate them, and thus we root for the kid. If the goal of Home Sweet Home Alone was to deconstruct that formula, to make the kid a villain, well how messed up is that? And when the final act kicks off, with Max shooting pool balls into Jeff's head, or using a treadmill to hurl weights at them with lethal force, the kid comes across as an absolute psycho. It didn't have to be this way. There is a place for one-dimensional villains, and this was the place for it. Granted, it wouldn't be anything new or interesting, but the film by nature is not new or interesting.

As the film balances multiple POVs (some of which are absolutely unnecessary), the film aims to make us understand all sides of the picture, but the end result is a frustrating situation where all the characters resolve their differences and all the conflict just evaporates. It renders the whole affair pointless. This is the other problem with the film's approach—you wind up walking away from with with a shrug, and maybe the frustrated impression that all of this could have been played out differently. At its worst, it's a waste of time.

It is a shame, because I do feel that the quality of the film is improved from the fourth and fifth movies. Cinematography is not too shabby, often boasting shots with interesting lighting. I'd even say that the jokes are a grade funnier and edgier than the last few movies, and the traps showcased in the finale are pretty inventive. Performances are fine, but none of them were huge standouts one way or the other. It is interesting to see various nods to the first couple of films, strongly suggesting a continuity (even though it's also a reboot? I dunno). As such, Devin Ratray's cameo is probably the most pleasant surprise to the movie. That, and the music, which apes the original themes John Williams initially composed (although any original tunes are not particularly good standouts).

If this was meant to spin things around and make Max a villain and the crooks "good guys," the film fails because why would I want that in a Home Alone movie. This isn't freakin' Eden Lake, where violent kids are a horrific problem that has to be villainized and exposed. If this is meant to be taken as a Home Alone reboot, where we are 100% behind Max and want to see the crooks harmed, the film fails because of the sympathy it garners for those crooks (even if unintentionally). While deep relatable villains have done well for previous Disney hits like Frozen, it has no place here. This film would have worked if it kept things simple, but by toying around with character depth and sympathies, I came out of it troubled and confused. It's easily the worst story I've seen for a Home Alone film (even factoring in the direct-to-video sequels). It's a bummer, because the film itself isn't that bad to look at.

2/10