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KEVINNN: Home Alone vs. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
206 Plays1 year ago
Rock and Rob take a break from battling underappreciated movies to match up two Christmas classics, Home Alone (1990) and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Find out which one of these movies will make the nice list as they are put through seven rounds of questions such as ‘better cast’, ‘better sledding scene’, and ‘which movie had the most iconic moment.’ Have the hap hap happiest Christmas ya filthy animals!
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Transcript
Introduction & Festive Spirit
00:00:00
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? Brothers don't shake hands.
00:00:11
Speaker
I don't want your life. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. Okay, a simple wrong would have done just fine. Merry Christmas, you filthy animals, and welcome to The Movie Showdown with Rock and Rob.
00:00:31
Speaker
My name is Rob Mansfield and dressed in his full Clark Griswold attire, ready to have the half, half, happiest Christmas. It's Alex Rockline! Woo! What an intro. Yes, I am dressed like Clark Griswold. I had to get in the mood, get in character, to represent my movie this week. I know we are an audio medium, but I am wearing a...
00:00:52
Speaker
Jingle Bell rock sweatshirt courtesy of my boy Justin Ellis. Shout out Justin. I know you are a loyal listener. If you're wondering if Alex is a Chicago Blackhawks fan, that is not the case. He just owns every single sports jersey known to mankind. Yes, I am not. They're probably one of my least favorite organizations in sports. But for sake of podcast, I went Chicago
Christmas Decorations & Traditions
00:01:18
Speaker
Blackhawks.
00:01:18
Speaker
So the rock question of the week. Do you go all out for Christmas with the decorations, lights, Christmas trees? Christmas is a big deal. Pretty much everything except for lawn ornamentation, if that's a word. We don't do the blowups outside, although Evelyn really wishes we did. We got six trees, one big one, five small ones scattered about the house. We have a Christmas village. We have garland that lights up. We have
00:01:44
Speaker
String lights everywhere. We go all out. So Winter Wonderland. It is a Winter Wonderland. Abby loves decorating our house for Christmas. Like, this is her sport. Like, this is what she does. She loves it. And so, you know, we put it up a little bit earlier this year than in years past because we just want to enjoy it more.
00:02:02
Speaker
That's great. I go all out with the outside lights. I grew up with
What Defines a Christmas Movie?
00:02:06
Speaker
multicolored lights, but Krista is a very traditional white light person. So I do the whole front of the house in white lights, and then we have a shed in the back, and I decorate that in multicolored lights. Oh, I like that. That's fun. Two Christmas trees. We have a Christmas village too that I've had since I was a little kid. We set it up on our bookcases. Lots and lots of Christmas decorations as well.
00:02:26
Speaker
It's a fun time of year. I always am sad to take everything down when it's over. So we always do village on Black Friday. Nice. It was my mom's. And then when she sold her house years ago, she gave it to me because we had a house at that time and they were downsizing. So I have now been bequeathed the Christmas village, which is a pretty big deal. So my mom comes over every Black Friday and she helps set it up still. That's awesome. Kind of our tradition.
00:02:52
Speaker
Well, we've got a lot to cover today, so let's jump right into it. As a Christmas gift to ourselves, we decided to lift the ban of movies over 60% on Rotten Tomatoes temporarily and battle out two Christmas classics, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Home Alone. Alex, talk to me about National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, so National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is actually the third installment of the National Lampoon's vacation films, which follows National Lampoon's vacation and the European vacation. In just a little context, National Lampoon was a humor magazine from 1970 to the late 90s. And from that, there were films, radio programs, theater, all sorts of media. Quick summary, Cornelius Chevy Chase does Chevy Chase things during the Christmas season.
00:03:42
Speaker
And yada, yada, yada, something about a pool. Yep. Yep. This movie was released on December 1st, 1989, directed by Jeremiah Cheechik, written by John Hughes. This movie is actually based on a short story that he wrote for the National Lampoon Magazine called Christmas 59. There's kind of like a little call to that in the attic scene when Clark finds the movies, which is kind of fun.
00:04:07
Speaker
John Hughes, he's a legend. Everybody knows the movies that he has written. Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Without him, you wouldn't have a lot of these classic, you know, 80s teen movies, all sorts of stuff. So he is a legend among legends. This movie had a budget of $25 million. Box Office brought in $73.3 million. This movie has a Rotten Tomatoes score of, drum roll please,
00:04:36
Speaker
70% and a Google audience score of 91%. Wow, nice. Okay, Home Alone. An eight year old has to defend his house against robbers after his parents forget to bring him on their Christmas vacation. I tried really hard to think of a way to make that funny, but it always sounds like the plot of a horror movie. But it's funny, I swear, like one of the robbers gets his head lit on fire. No, wait, still scary. One of the robbers steps on a nail and falls down the stairs. Nope, still bad.
00:05:06
Speaker
Oh, I got it. One of the robbers gets a staple gun to the nuts. That's funny, right? It's always funny. Released November 16th, 1990, directed by Chris Columbus, who had also done Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Harry Potter films. Written by the great John Hughes. Yes, both of these movies written by John Hughes. And Chris Columbus was uncredited as a writer. He added in the whole Old Man Marley storyline.
00:05:32
Speaker
Home Alone had a budget of $18 million and a box office of $476.7 million. That is a hefty number. It was the highest grossing comedy until The Hangover Part 2 in 2011. So for 21 years, this was the highest grossing comedy. What a movie to take it down to. Yeah. It seems just so random. It really does.
00:05:56
Speaker
Rotten Tomatoes score of 65% and a Google audience score of 90%. Interesting thing, this movie was initially a Warner Brothers production when the producer said that they could initially make it for $10 million. However, during pre-production, it became clear that they couldn't do it for less than $14.7 million. So Warner Brothers wouldn't go any higher than $13.5 million and shut down the project, but Fox immediately stepped in and took over the project and wow, did it pay off for them.
00:06:24
Speaker
14.7 is like very precise. I think it worked out for them. Yeah, thank goodness they did. I mean, even $18 million versus $25 million, that seems like a lot for national lampoons, but. Well, at that point, like Chavvie was, I bet he had like half of it. He probably did. And the Christmas light budget was probably like a million dollars.
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, the Christmas light budget and the probably electric bill. Yeah, yeah. But you know, Rob, these are two of the most popular Christmas movies of all time. But I have heard some chatter some debate that Home Alone is not a Christmas movie.
Christmas Movie Speed Draft
00:06:57
Speaker
All right, Alex, let us determine once and for all what makes a movie a Christmas movie or not. I have created a point system, and a movie must score a minimum of four out of five points to qualify as a Christmas movie. So the five points that a movie can earn. It has to take place during the Christmas season. It has to give you Christmas feels. It has to include Christmas music. It has to include Christmas language, such as Merry Christmas, Ho, Ho, Ho, Santa Claus, et cetera. And it has to use Christmas for storytelling.
00:07:25
Speaker
So is Christmas a reason for the inciting incident? So you look at a movie like Christmas Vacation, right? That's a five out of five. Hits and checks off every box in that. Based on my scoring system, Home Alone also five out of five points in this scale. Okay, but what about the argument that people make, oh, well, Home Alone could have happened any time of year. It's just, you know, the family leaves the kid at home. First off, you could say that about any movie. What if Christmas Vacation took place over Easter?
00:07:51
Speaker
That would be changing the script completely. For example, setting home alone not during Christmas would be changing major plot points. The McAllister family was traveling for Christmas, as was many of the other neighbors, which is what brought the wet bandits to the area in the first place. Christmas for many people is about being with family, and that was also a major theme of this movie.
00:08:12
Speaker
And would that have resonated as much if it was just like set in the summer? Yeah, that's true. That's true. Even a movie like Die Hard gets a 4 out of 5 on the point scale. While I wouldn't say it necessarily gives you Christmas feels, the only reason John McClain is traveling to California is to be with his wife and kids on Christmas. They also utilize a work Christmas party as the setting.
00:08:34
Speaker
So changing Die Hard from Christmas changes so many lines in the script and it changes the feel of the entire movie. I do like your scale because I think if you watch the first five minutes of any Hallmark Christmas movie, check them all off right away. But those are so obvious in your face. So it's fun to look at these movies that are maybe on the fringe and just...
00:08:52
Speaker
Like you look at some action movies like Iron Man 3. A lot of the Shane Black movies are set during Christmas time. So Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and a few others and kind of put it through the scale. I like that. I like it. So if you ever have a question of if a movie is a Christmas movie or not, run it through this scale and that'll tell you yes or no. Love it.
00:09:11
Speaker
Alright, we love these speed drafts. It's almost Christmas time. Let's do a Christmas movie speed draft. Make a pick. Five words or less why. Snake style. I'll have home alone. You'll have Christmas vacation to start. Alex, you want first pick? Christmas gift to you? I don't. I want to defer. That's fine. I will take first pick. Ready? I'm ready. Go. The Santa Claus. Best depiction of Santa.
00:09:34
Speaker
Elf makes me laugh every time, followed by Miracle on 34th Street, the original version. It's just a classic Christmas story. Pick two for me. Die hard. Yippee-ki-yay, mother.
00:09:48
Speaker
Muppet Christmas Carol, my favorite version of the Scrooge story. Man, I was going to take that one. I should have taken it in one of my first picks. I was hoping it would slide, but great pick. All right. My next pick, I'm going to take Arthur Christmas, which is like Fred Claus, but animated in British. It's very funny.
00:10:05
Speaker
And a Christmas story. Hard not to watch that on repeat on Christmas Eve. Last pick for me, so many good options. I mean, we've got four Christmases still, which was our last episode winner. And I love that movie. I said in that it was like a top three Christmas movie to me. You did. And it is. But I want to just diversify talking about some Christmas movies.
00:10:26
Speaker
I really also like the family man and we love Nick Cage on this pod. So that would have been a really good pick for me too. But.
00:10:36
Speaker
In honor of my children, I'm going to have to go with the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Nice. That gives us both an animated movie in there. I love it. I love it. My kids love the Grinch and so do I. A lot of honorable mentions here. It's a wonderful life. Even Charlie Brown Christmas. Love, actually, Fred Claus, Polar Express, Claus. Santa Claus 2, Home Alone 2. Krampus.
00:11:00
Speaker
Nope, did not register on my list. Bad Santa. Yeah, there's so many. I know. Anyway. All right, Rock, you ready to see which of these Christmas classics gets on the nice list and wins the title of Ultimate Christmas Movie? I am ready. Okay, round one, best cast or performance?
00:11:22
Speaker
There are four Oscar nominee actors in this movie. They are Juliette Lewis, Diane Ladd, Randy Quaid, and William Hickey. It also has nine-time Emmy winner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and five-time Emmy winner, Doris Roberts. Some power right there. As I mentioned before, Cornelius Chevy Chase plays the hero, Clark Griswold, who works as a food additive designer, which is hilarious. That's a very funny job. So good.
00:11:50
Speaker
Chevy Chase, quick little thing. First time I ever went to Washington, D.C., we drove through the town of Chevy Chase, which I was like, oh, that's cool. They named it after the actor. But it's the opposite. Was he conceived there like for Christmases? He very well may have been. He was born in New York City, so I mean, not out of the realm of possibilities.
00:12:09
Speaker
All right. We also have Beverly D'Angelo. She plays Ellen Griswold. Juliette Lewis. She plays Audrey. She's had a very solid career. You may know her from old school. Also, the television show Yellow Jackets. Her part in old school is so funny. She's just sitting there chain smoking and you're here for that. I'm not going to say it, but because I know my kids want to listen to this episode, so I don't want to have to explain to them.
00:12:34
Speaker
For the parents out there, what a G-A-N-G-B-A-N-G is. This is the ultimate family episode. Yeah. Johnny Galecki. He plays Rusty. You may know him from the Big Bang Theory when he grows up. Doris Roberts. She's the mom from Everybody Loves Raymond. She's also a grandma's boy. She was like so mean in this. She plays that role pretty well, though. Kind of like the grump, but like not really grumpy. She's not grumpy. That's not the right word.
00:12:59
Speaker
Judgmental, maybe. Critical. As I mentioned before, Julia, Louis Dreyfuss. She plays Margo, that neighbor. The neighbors are great. Yeah, they're so funny. They might be my favorite part of this movie consistently. Their interactions with each other and with Clark. When Clark is bringing that chainsaw out to trim the tree. Hey, Griswold. Where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big? Bend over and I'll show you. You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, Griswold. I wasn't talking to you.
00:13:27
Speaker
He just like backs down completely. I do love just the opposite nature that they, you know, that the Griswolds have versus these two. Yeah, it's great. And also Brian Doyle Murray makes yet another appearance. All right, Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin.
00:13:46
Speaker
My middle son, Tanner, his middle name is Kevin, and we actually named him after the character in this movie. Did you know that? I did not. I love that. Yeah, no, it's not true. Dude, my father-in-law's first name is Kevin and Tanner has the same initials as my dad, TKM. But when I was watching this movie thinking about that, I was like, oh, that's cool. That's not a bad little connection to have. Did Macaulay just not flow well? Yeah, no.
00:14:09
Speaker
No, it wasn't great. This movie was actually written for Macaulay Culkin, but Christopher Columbus still wanted to do his due diligence and he auditioned about 200 kids. They actually approached a young John Mulaney about auditioning, but his parents said no, he couldn't do it.
00:14:25
Speaker
For a kid to be able to carry a movie like this, he has to be so likable. I feel like so often, kids in movies, you're just like, okay, I'm done with you, let's move on. I never felt that way about him. He's so good in this movie. Yeah, he's generational. He was just so good in everything he was in. He just had it.
00:14:44
Speaker
He's so smart. He's like very charming in the movie. He has to be one of like the smartest movie characters of all time. Bad guys are coming in and he just knows to turn the lights on. I mean, just basically everything he does to try to avoid the bad guys coming in. It's just like the smartest thing. It's funny. I don't know if you watch this movie, like through the lens of having kids now, but being like, would my kid know how to do this? Would my kid, you know, like he knows how to get to the store and like walk home. And I'm like,
00:15:10
Speaker
That would never happen. I know. I think about the same thing to him. My kid doesn't even know how to use a microwave, let alone lay down tar and freeze steps. That's what makes it so great, though. What do you think he's doing 20 years later besides immense amounts of therapy? That's a good question. What is Kevin McAllister doing when he grows up? Yeah.
00:15:36
Speaker
I hope something creative. Technically, in universe, there's been a ton of sequels to the Home Alone movies, so there's two, three, four, five, and then they did like a sequel soft reboot, I think a year ago called Home Sweet Home Alone, which actually stars Pete Holmes, who is a Gordon College graduate like us as the Uncle Frank type character. Buzz is in that movie as a police officer, I think, and he makes a comment about how
00:16:05
Speaker
his brother is designing home security systems, which fits, but I just feel like he's way smarter. Yeah, that's just too obvious too. It's fun, but yeah, give me something a little bit more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have Joe Pesci as Harry. Joe Pesci deliberately avoided Macaulay Culkin on set because he wanted Mac to think that he was mean.
00:16:30
Speaker
Which is cool, but it's also kind of mean to do to an eight-year-old. I don't know. Whatever. That's hilarious. We have Daniel Stern as Marv. Stern was initially cast, but there was a hang up with Pei, so he declined. So then they cast Daniel Roebuck, but after meeting with producers and screen testing with Pesci, he was let go. They then figured out the money issue and brought Stern back. Daniel Stern was so good in this. He just has that face, too. Yeah. He can't really replace him. I can't think of anyone really who I would
00:17:00
Speaker
Did you know what I just saw that really shocked me to my core? What's that? Daniel Stern was only 32 years old when they filmed this movie. Oh, he filmed? No. He was three, four years younger than you and I. How? I don't know. I don't know. It hurts me to my core to think about.
00:17:18
Speaker
And we have Catherine O'Hara as Kate McAllister. That's Kevin's mom. She had like a great resurgence with the TV show Schitt's Creek. And John Candy as the polka king of the Midwest, he filmed all of his scenes in one day as a favor to Christopher Columbus and took base pay to do it. Was it most of his part like improvised to? Yeah. Yeah. He like improvised the whole thing. He was huge at this point. I mean, Uncle Buck had just come out playing trains and automobiles a couple of years before that.
00:17:46
Speaker
John Candy was mega popular. It was definitely a draw for the movie. We also have Kieran Culkin, who plays Fuller, and I only point this out because that's actually Macaulay Culkin's brother. He's also in succession. But apparently, Macaulay Culkin's dad made them cast Kieran, or he wouldn't let Macaulay be in it. Nice little bargaining chip there.
00:18:06
Speaker
I've heard some bad stories about Macaulay Culpin's dad. How am I not surprised? Yeah. And in a really small part, our buddy Max from Armageddon is the Santa Claus in this movie. Chris Farley actually auditioned for this role, and I think that would have been amazing, but he sadly did not get cast. Yeah, that would be one thing, man. Chris Farley to anything, and it immediately makes it way better. Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker
Some casting background, the role of Uncle Frank was written with Kelsey Grammer in mind. That would have been interesting. Yeah. Robert De Niro and John Lovitz both turned down the role of Harry, and Danny DeVito was considered for the role. Yep. I could see all those. Christopher Lloyd reportedly turned down the role of Marv, and Michael Richard was considered for the part. Okay. Christopher Lloyd could have done it. Yeah, they all kind of have that same look. Okay, Michael Richards for sure. Yeah.
00:18:58
Speaker
Jeremy Irons, known for frequently playing villains, was offered to play either Harry or Marv, but turned them down. And Al Pacino was offered to play Harry or Peter McAllister, but turned both of the roles down because of scheduled conflicts.
00:19:12
Speaker
And then I had heard Kirstie Alley was considered for Kate, Kevin's mom. She was pretty big at this point, like pretty popular. Very interesting. I love those. I love the coda bends in these movies. Those are always fun. Okay, Alex. I feel like we got a lot of Seinfeld or Friends connections in this movie.
00:19:28
Speaker
Yes. So there's there's there's the obvious. There's Julia Louis Dreyfuss obviously plays Elaine and nine seasons of Seinfeld. You have Brian Doyle Murray, who we've mentioned before appears in Seinfeld, but a couple of different things for you this week. The scene where Kevin is now home alone and he goes into Buzz's room, which for him is like the place he can never be, which Buzz's room like when I'm thinking back to when I was that age, I'm like, man, like he had everything. The coolest room. The coolest room. He had like the
00:19:57
Speaker
Michael Jordan cardboard cutout, he had all the baseball cards, and I'm like, man, the guy's got it all. When he's going through his private sash of stuff, he finds a box of Junior Mints, and there's a very famous Seinfeld episode called The Junior Mint, and in that one, George rents Home Alone to watch it, and this is great back and forth, so he comes over Jerry's apartment, and he's like, what, you rented Home Alone? Yeah, I thought you saw that already. Not so Home Alone 2. All right.
00:20:31
Speaker
of all movies to like not see the prequel. It's like, it's so funny. That's great writing. But then later, George, he's still at Jerry's place. Jerry comes home and George is crying. And he's like, you're crying from Home Alone? He's like, yeah, the old man got me. So good. Great call out. I love that. It's, you know, a little, a little back and forth there between the Junior Mint and Home Alone. And this one is very interesting. So this has to do with Home Alone and Friends.
00:20:52
Speaker
But you hated it. Well, I was lost. I never saw the first one.
00:20:57
Speaker
Late into friends, Monica and Chandler, Matthew Perry, rest in peace, buy a house in the suburbs. When they're in like their living room, if you look out the front windows, you'll see the neighbors across the street, their houses look very familiar. And if that's the case, it's because they're the same exact houses that are across the street from the McCallish's house and home alone.
00:21:19
Speaker
Wow. Okay. All right. It's just a fun thing. I saw that too, and I had read that the editor put the same exterior shots into the background of the friend scene, just hoping no one would notice. Well, guess what? We noticed. Didn't think the internet would ever be as big as it was because we found you.
00:21:37
Speaker
All right, Alex, round one. I mean, both really good casts, some really good comedic performances. I would have to lean home alone because I don't think the movie works if Macaulay Culkin isn't 100 percent on and good the entire time. This is the way I think of this matchup. There's a lot of star power in both casts. I think they kind of cancel each other out. I would say you put Chevy Chase's character up against Macaulay Culkin's character.
00:22:03
Speaker
And you kind of, you know, give them like a one-on-one and I, yeah, I think I agree. Chevy Chase obviously is Clark Griswold and he plays that role so well. But Macaulay Culkin as an eight-year-old kid playing Kevin McAllister is like iconic in a way that it just transcends, I think, everything about Christmas vacation. So I think I would concede this point to Home Alone.
00:22:25
Speaker
Yeah, and Clark is a character that Chase had created in previous movies and was kind of just continuing it. Kevin McAllister, this was a new creation from Macaulay Culkin. So I give it a little bit of points for that too, but 100%. I will take the point and I agree, Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin just dominates.
Iconic Moments & Soundtracks
00:22:44
Speaker
So one to nothing, Home Alone, heading into round two, best line or moments.
00:22:51
Speaker
so there's so many this is what's hard about these movies we have a lot for all the movies we do but when you take like these two against each other it's hard to trim them down yes opening scene driving to get the christmas tree just the whole scene the person tailgating and then he's under the truck fast and furious definitely stole that exactly and then
00:23:11
Speaker
The line, forgive my husband for he knows not what he does, which of course is a callback to one of your favorite Christmas movies, Four Christmases. I wonder if Four Christmases, well, I mean, that's a pretty religious line, but it's a classic. Hey, you never know. It's a Christmas movie. There could be some connection there.
00:23:26
Speaker
He has Audrey, if she likes it. And the mom is like, she'll see you later, honey. Her eyes are frozen shut. Ridiculous, but it's hilarious. But anyway, after Clark gets the sap on his fingers and he's trying to read the magazine, that part's hilarious. When he's in bed, flipping through. I love that. And there's a little Easter egg, the director Jeremiah Chichik, his face is on the cover of the People magazine that he's reading. Oh, nice.
00:23:51
Speaker
Nice little Easter egg. The scene where they're at the mall and he's talking to the sales lady. Yeah. So funny. And then Russ comes over. He's like, you can't see the line. Can you rest? And then he like gives him the double tick. His reactions in that scene are so good. He's for your wife or girlfriend. What? What happened? What happened? Like just so even as a Freudian slips to her are so good. Obviously the scene with the lights when they finally get going. That's just a nice moment.
00:24:19
Speaker
It's great because you see how much she how much effort he put in, how much he loves Christmas. He needs this to happen. Something I read that I thought was pretty interesting was Christie Brinkley, who was in the first National Lampoon's vacation movie as the girl in the red Ferrari was asked to reprise her role as the lingerie store worker. Mm hmm. However, Brinkley said no, because she felt it would be unrealistic for the character to be working in Chicago and encountering the griswolds again.
00:24:46
Speaker
She did come back for Vegas Vacation, but Christie in a movie full of outlandish things. I don't think anybody would have questioned the integrity of you being in it. I love that she's thinking of the continuity. I love that. It's great. But yeah, she totally could have been that same character. No one would have cared. There's just so many good lines in this movie. I'll just throw out a couple of them. Ruby Sue, Clark's niece. She's great. She's so funny when Clark's daydreaming with a pool and she comes in and she thinks it's Santa Claus, but
00:25:13
Speaker
You know, they sit down, have a nice little heart to heart, which is a really nice scene. And then, you know, he asks, good idea came to stay with us, isn't it? I love it here.
00:25:22
Speaker
You don't got to put on your coat to go to the bathroom and your house is always parked in the same place. That's so good. Then the scene when Clark has a gift for his boss, Mr. Shirley, and he comes in and he's just kind of holding it and he's like, I'll just put it down with the rest of them. And he puts it down. Every gift is lined up exactly the same shape. And then even after he drops off the gift and he's like, you know, telling him he can leave, he's like, I'm on the phone and he's not. Then he just picks it up. Give me someone.
00:25:50
Speaker
Get me somebody, anybody, and get me somebody while I'm waiting. Great scene. Do you know what that gift is that they all got him? What is it? What's the gift? I had read that it was a desk organizer. I love that. It's such like a blink and you'll miss it joke, but it was so good when I'll just put it over there and he turns and every gift is the same. Yeah, it is. And then one of my favorites is such a quick one liner under his breath. He gets all the lights out at night and Russ is helping him and he just tosses him the big ball of lights. He goes, a little naughty here.
00:26:19
Speaker
It's like the size of a beach ball. That's great. That's good. So in Home Alone, obviously Kevin has some amazing one-liners. I love when he's yelling, when I grow up and get married, I'm living alone. And he just starts jumping up and I'm living alone. But just the irony of that statement is really good. It's an eight-year-old. Then when he's at the grocery store, are those microwavable dinners any good? The cashier says, I don't know. He says, I'll give it a whirl.
00:26:45
Speaker
Some of the things he said are so good for the kids. Yes, I love the pizza delivery scene. It's so good. Still have no idea how he had such perfect timing with that movie pausing. He must have just practiced it for hours and hours. But that whole scene is so good and just so iconic.
00:27:05
Speaker
It really is. And I love that he brings it back to something people often bring up is, oh, there's no way you'd be able to. The speakers would be good enough for that to be realistic. But if you look closely, you'll actually see he brought down two subwoofers, huge speakers and plugged them into the TV in the kitchen to make it like extra loud for that. How dare anyone question Kevin? I know. Seriously. But let's be real. The best moment of this movie is basically from as soon as that bell tolls at the end of the church scene.
00:27:34
Speaker
Which is a good scene in and of itself. Great scene. Love that scene. Where he's having the heart to heart with Old Man Marley. It's really nice and touching. But as soon as that bell tolls, and then it just rolls to the end. I mean, that's one of the best endings to a Christmas movie that you can see.
00:27:49
Speaker
Now, I'm pretty sure the bell strikes eight tolls, meaning it's 8 p.m., and the robbers were coming at 9 p.m., meaning he did all of this in one hour. A little far-fetched, but you don't question it when you're watching it, and it just leads to such a fantastic ending. This is my house. I have to defend it.
00:28:13
Speaker
This is it. Don't get scared now. We could probably talk for an hour about this whole scene, but if it's anywhere near that scene when this movie is on, I'm 100% watching it. Yes, definitely. It flies from that point on. It's just really nonstop. Yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
I always felt bad. He never got to eat his mac and cheese, but something I did notice later on when they show that dining room and one of the seat in one of the trap parts, it's actually a different meal. Did you notice that? It's not mac and cheese. It's like one of those like hungry man type dinners for little kids. Weird. OK. Yeah. So everything from.
00:28:48
Speaker
the paint cans, the blowtorch, all of this stuff is great. I think my favorite line in that whole sequence though, is when Kevin's in the tree house and he yells across, I'm gonna call the cops. I'm gonna call the cops. He's not calling from a tree house.
00:29:04
Speaker
I love how he yells. It's one of the most iconic scenes in movies. It really is. Who as a kid didn't watch that movie and be like, all right, how can I rig up some of these of my own? Oh, absolutely. My son just did it the other day. He tried to draw a map of the house with rigged up. I love it. You know, traps and things. It's great.
00:29:23
Speaker
I think this category comes down to the, there's a bunch of really funny smaller scenes in Christmas Vacation verse one amazingly iconic scene in Home Alone. Which way are you leaning? When you add up all the scenes, that's what makes Christmas Vacation such a classic start to finish.
00:29:40
Speaker
But for me, like you said, when that clock strikes when he's in the church to the end, that to me is the movie. And that is like far and away like one of the more memorable parts of any movie. Yes. When the first time I saw it as a kid, like even to now, you know, you watch it again, you're like just brings it right back.
00:29:57
Speaker
It resonates whether you're 35 and you saw that movie when it first came out or whether you're a kid now watching the movie for a first time. Like I said, my son will just ask me, can we watch that part of the movie? We're talking about 33 years ago and that scene still holds up. Right. I mean, come on. No, you can't. You just can't. Exactly. And I think that's why I'd have to give Home Alone this category for sure. All right. Two to nothing. Home Alone heading into round three. Better title or soundtrack?
00:30:28
Speaker
So Alex, I'm going to be honest with you. I actually find the title Christmas Vacation pretty dumb. The National Lampoon part I get that, you know, was a whole run of things from Animal House to the other vacation movies. But this movie doesn't actually fall over the actual Christmas vacation. It ends on Christmas Eve. So maybe it would be like one or two days of the Christmas vacation.
Plot Holes & Theories
00:30:49
Speaker
And I know they had to do it to stay in theme with the vacation theme of the movies, but I never thought it was like a home run title for me.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Like I get it. Yeah, it's a continuity of the series. And to me, it's like when I think Christmas vacation based on the other ones, like, oh, they're going somewhere for. Yeah. Like Home Alone, like they they're going somewhere for Christmas. Yeah.
00:31:10
Speaker
Whereas the title of Home Alone, it's just simple, it's straightforward, it's direct, you know exactly what you're getting into with it. I think it's a flawless title. Yeah, agreed. If we're just talking about the titles, I think we got to give it to Home Alone, but there's some good music in this too. The main song in Christmas Vacation is really good. What is it called? Is it called Christmas Vacation? It is, yeah.
00:31:30
Speaker
It's so catchy. It's so great. It's really good. They hit most of the big Christmas songs, especially the ones that were popular in the late 80s. I think it's good. Whereas in Home Alone, they actually got the great John Williams to do the score. They didn't think they had a shot with him and he watched an early cut of the movie and was like, oh yeah, I'll do this. And the score of this movie is iconic. It's fantastic.
00:31:51
Speaker
The theme is great, the setting, the trap from when those bells toll, the music up until the wet bandits get to the house. It's so good. I can't hear rocking around the Christmas tree without thinking of the scene where he sets up the fake party at his house.
00:32:07
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, the Christmas music's really good in it too. It's some of my favorite Christmas music. So I don't know, I think the music, the scores are pretty close, but you can't go against John Williams. I think we've gotta give this point to Home Alone. Yeah, it just amplifies the action that is taking place. Home Alone, three to nothing. Is this gonna be a sweep? Is this gonna be our first sweep? It would be. Okay, round four. Plot holes, cringiness, random questions.
00:32:35
Speaker
Honestly, there's not really a huge plot to Christmas vacation, so there's not really any plot holes. I mean, he wants to get a bonus check so that he could build a pool. Yeah, that's about as much of a plot as there is. I mean, it's more just about the holiday season and leading up to Christmas with your family. So I don't have any plot holes. I wouldn't necessarily say these things were cringy, but these are the things that would fall in the cringy category for me.
00:32:59
Speaker
So I was never drawn to this movie growing up. And the reason is because I really struggle watching movies where characters in it have a lack of social awareness and rudeness. And I don't love it when like houses get destroyed. And it's like, how are they going to clean that up?
00:33:15
Speaker
You know, like I just I don't know why that always just sits with me and it makes me uneasy. The rudeness of some of the guests at the house and the family members bothers me, too, like the guy that lit the tree on fire and just acting like nothing happened. And then the dog stuff under the table. I'm sure there are people like that out there. I just don't want to be around them. Yes. Yes. It did make you very uncomfortable. Yeah. But that's the point of the movie. So like you can't fault it. I'm just telling you. That's why I was never drawn to this. Yes.
00:33:43
Speaker
The dinner scene to me is so gross and frustrating. The whole like turkey, dry turkey exploding, the eating noises, the clinking, the dog throwing up, all that stuff. It's just like, I don't want it. It does have a great line though, save the neck for me. But besides that, I don't want any part of that scene.
00:34:04
Speaker
And then I think in a movie full of like extremely over the top things, the SWAT team breaking every window and door in the house. Like that was, that was extreme. But once again, that's the point of the movie. So you can't fault anything. I just needed to get that off my chest. No, I hear you. I have a couple of random questions. In the beginning of the movie, when they go to get the tree, they don't bring their saw to cut it down.
00:34:24
Speaker
Right. We see them driving away with it. How'd they get the tree out? Roots and all. That is a very tough thing to do. Yeah. So there's actually a deleted scene that depicts the Griswolds haggling with the tree lot owner over the price of the tree and the fact they don't have a saw to which the owner provides them with a shovel. OK. Still, though, like I don't know if you're shoveling that out. Yeah, you're definitely not showing this. It's going to take you a long time. But when the owner have a saw that he would let them whatever. Anyway, I hear you.
00:34:52
Speaker
I do like continuity in movies, and I know we spoke about the title. That's why they called it vacation. But did you realize that in Christmas vacation and the first vacation movie, the name Griswold is spelled with an O, whereas in European vacation, the Griswold name is spelled with an A? Oh, weird. It's like Berenstain Bears. Yeah. Watch. How did they get that wrong? Also, the age order of the kids changed in this movie with a younger Rusty and an older Audrey. In the first two movies, it was switched. Audrey was older, Rusty was younger.
00:35:21
Speaker
Maybe it's like Benjamin Button disease. The only other thing I had was 25,007 watt C9 light bulbs would draw approximately 1,458 amps of electricity. A typical residential home has a 150 to 200 amp box. So either the main breaker would trip or the single light switch in the garage would melt instantly.
00:35:42
Speaker
just all those things plugged in on top of each other. That gave me a little anxiety too. I mean, they did show the entire neighborhood lights shutting down. Yes. And it's a comedy. So like we're not getting to it. But I did think, how does this house supply enough electricity for this? And it's like, well, the answer is it wouldn't.
00:36:00
Speaker
What do you got for home alone? I think one of the bigger ones is the whole thing about they're on the plane and like trying to make some phone calls. Oh, the phone lines are still down. But then Kevin's ordering pizza, which I mean, the only way to order pizza back then is to call. Yeah. So then like they just stopped calling like that was it. They're like, Oh, phone lines are down. We're not going to try again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then also why wouldn't he have called the cops earlier? Like knowing that, okay, like there's something going on with these two guys who like keep like
00:36:26
Speaker
showing up at my house. He calls the cops at the end of the break-in, but why not call the cops before? Exactly. You get home, instead of setting the traps, you just call the cops. Hey, I heard these guys saying they're going to break into our house. Can you send the police vehicle? Right. Yeah, there you go. I mean, I'm glad they didn't do it.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yeah, maybe he was confused with like the seeing the same guy with the gold tooth and like, yeah, maybe he's eight. I don't know. All right. So here's another thing. So they wake up late. They had about 45 minutes to get to the airport. If you're taking like their location where they're supposed to live in the film to get to O'Hare closes airport, it's going to be about 29 minutes. You know, no traffic, which seems like a pipe dream. We're talking gates usually close about 15 minutes before departure. So are they making this flight? No, they're not making the flight.
00:37:10
Speaker
Even pre 9-11 where there wasn't extensive security, you're getting out of the vehicles dropping you off. You're bringing your luggage. I mean, they had big bags, so you have to check your luggage. Oh, you're checking them. Yeah, you're going to Paris, yeah. No, they're not making it. Yeah, I get to advance the whole notion of, oh, how did they leave a kid behind? There had to be some sort of scramble. Yeah. But no, they still could have given them a little bit more time to get there. Yeah, yeah.
00:37:35
Speaker
Also, when the plane takes off from Chicago, it's the morning we're talking like what six or seven hours to get from Chicago to Paris, and then Paris is seven ish seven hours ahead. Yeah, of Chicago. So then they would probably land, you know, wee hours of the morning. But when they land, it's broad daylight midday.
00:37:52
Speaker
I don't think they did a lot of research into time zones. No writing this. No, which I mean, like, whatever, like the whole. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah, a little bit like didn't age well or cringy. He asked for if she got the converter for his razor. Yeah. When he was saying he's like, did you get the converter? And I was like, what is he possibly going to need? Oh, that's right. A raise, you know. Yeah. Yeah. For me and you. Now it's. It'd be like phone charger or something. iPad, whatever. Yeah. The police in their town are terrible. Yeah.
00:38:21
Speaker
Yeah, Sergeant Balzac. What a name. He's doing the eating thing, which was so gross sensory overload. Yeah. Also, just like I feel like that conversation between the mom and the police officer, just like she could have been like a little more like persistent. Well, she just did like a very bad job of explaining the situation. Yeah.
00:38:40
Speaker
That would have been really simple. Our family got on a plane. We accidentally forgot our son at home. We're in Paris. He's home alone. We know he's there. He's eight. Please, somebody help. Yeah, right. And they're just like, well, yeah, all right. We'll send a car by. Yeah.
00:38:56
Speaker
as he's like shoving a donut in his mouth or whatever. Right. All right. Some questions for you. When Kevin's like trying to figure out what's going on, he goes outside and he looks in the garage, but their cars are like in the garage, but like half out. That's weird, right? That always annoyed me. What are we doing? This is a massive house. Pull the cars in. Yeah.
00:39:12
Speaker
Yeah. Where can we get a little Nero's pizza around here? Because they get 10 pizzas for $122.50. It's a great price. It's a great price. They only get one cheese. I know. I feel like if you're ordering 10 pizzas, at least like half are cheese, right? Well, especially like more than half of them are kids and that's like all they eat is cheese pizza. Yeah. Kids don't want like a Supreme pizza with everything. No, Buzz wanted sausage, right? Which, I mean, checks out, but... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, like, how did no one wake up before eight? Like, especially the kids.
00:39:42
Speaker
Well, and a lot of these people are sleeping in a new environment. I don't know about you, but if I'm like at a hotel or someone else's house, I'm up super early. Oh, I cannot sleep. Yeah. And then, like, kids always wake up way, way too early. How can I get my kids to sleep as long as the kids did in this movie? Yeah, same. And then, you know, it just takes a long time to figure it out. Like, that's a great I love the realization moment of realization when she's like, there's something. And then she's like, Kevin. Yeah, I love that scene. It's so good. But
00:40:09
Speaker
It took them a few hours to realize. Yeah. I mean, I do. I do love how like the milk gets spilled. So they throw his ticket away. So like their step one and they make it a point. And then the kid, the neighbor across the street comes over and they establish that this kid's annoying and he's asking questions. So he's, he's places he shouldn't be. So when they're counting the kids, they count him because he's, you know, that kid was so annoying. He was so annoying. He played that well.
00:40:32
Speaker
They like covered their bases as to how they covered their bases. They did. They really did, which they didn't have to. You know, like they went probably a little more, you know, more in depth than they probably needed to. But so Kevin's parents were they bad parents? Let's take the entirety. Yeah. One and two. They did this two times. Like I understand Kevin's a troublemaker, but they they thought they both don't talk to each other very nicely. You know, I don't know if they were bad parents, but.
00:40:57
Speaker
I mean, I feel like if you leave your kid home alone once and go to Paris, it's like, all right, you know what could happen to anybody. You lose your kids twice within a year of each other and back to back consecutive Christmases. Yeah.
00:41:13
Speaker
I don't know. Anyway, okay. One thing about this movie that I always tried to figure out was how many of Kevin's traps would have actually have killed the wet bandits. There's actually way more in Home Alone 2, but in Home Alone 1, an iron to the head from 20 feet, that's potentially ending somebody. A torch to the head for five seconds, potentially ending somebody. And then depending on how full the paint cans were, paint cans to the head are potentially ending somebody.
00:41:42
Speaker
In Home Alone 2, it's like every single thing. Here's another question for you. Do the parents ever find out what actually happened? I don't know. I've always wondered that because I really want them to know what he had to do, but he cleaned everything up. That was definitely on the news, he would think. I don't know. Would they have believed him? They never mention it in the second movie. They're never like, oh, remember when Kevin defended our home?
00:42:03
Speaker
I kind of wish they would have found out, but same. There's no ring cams. Something that I saw, which I found really interesting, was in the original draft of the screenplay, Uncle Frank is revealed as the villain behind the villains. And he hired Harry and Marv to rob the house. And he had also hired them to kill Kevin, which she's very, very dark.
00:42:28
Speaker
There are aspects of it when you're watching the movie that it seems like it could check out. And Frank actually calls Kevin a little jerk and the only other person in that movie that calls him that is Harry.
00:42:38
Speaker
I don't know. I just thought that's it's an interesting thing. I'm glad they didn't have the movie go that way. But yes, but yeah, that's part of the original screenplay. Alex, I don't even think we need to debate it. You listed like 400 things. I didn't have a single plot hole for you. So we're just going to I'm going to give this one to vacation of the vacation wins this. So no, sweet. Home Alone still leads three to one heading into round five.
Storyline Comparison
00:43:00
Speaker
Our miscellaneous question of the week.
00:43:04
Speaker
I was going back and forth between three different questions for this. And I thought, you know what? Let's just do all three. Whoever has the majority of the points out of these three questions will be the winner of this round. So the first question in this is, which movie had the better opening credits? Home Alone, it's the John Williams score, which is great with just graphic of the house and then Home Alone around it. And you know, it's cool.
00:43:26
Speaker
In Christmas Vacation, it's the Christmas Vacation theme song with the cartoon of Santa trying to deliver presents to the Griswold House, kind of establishing everything what this movie is going to be, leading to anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It's funny. So which which one do you like? I love the Christmas Vacation opening. The song in itself is just so great. It's okay. The cartoons funny. You know, yeah, like you said, it sets up the it sets up the whole movie.
00:43:51
Speaker
I do like in Home Alone how it transforms from the cartoon house to the real house because the house in the movie is such an iconic part of it. And it's like its own character. But no, Vacation wins that one. Yeah. Vacation gets one point right there. Second part of this, which movie has the most iconic moment? Is it Clark plugging in the lights or is it Kevin screaming in the mirror with his hands over his face? I got to say as a kid who didn't do this and then scream.
00:44:19
Speaker
You know, I just feel like that is the it stood the test of time. I keep talking about him, but my son Weston, who loves this movie, asked me, like, what is that stuff he's putting on his face? I was like, oh, it's aftershave. And he's like, oh, do you have that? And I was like, well, I use like a lotion. I don't use like like the old school, like alcohol aftershave. He was like, why is he scream? And I was like, well, because it burns, I guess. I don't know. But funny thing about that is I was actually an improv. He wasn't supposed to leave his hands up, but he did. It's perfect.
00:44:45
Speaker
I love that singing into the, into the comb. Yeah. It's man. So great. You got to go home alone there. So, okay. One-to-one last question I had, which movie has the better sleigh riding scene? Man. So Kevin does something we all want to do. He's the top of his stairs, opens his front door and he's just going to ride down, see and see what happens. We all wanted to do it. And then of course, Christmas vacation. Clark has this special applicant he puts on.
00:45:12
Speaker
The sled. And he just takes off and just keeps going. To me, it's that it's Christmas vacation. Yeah, the home alone slaying scene is cool in the sense that everybody wanted to do it. But even as a kid, I always knew that according to the laws of physics, there's no way he would be able to go straight down those steps and out the door. It was off centered slightly. So he would like crash straight into the wall.
00:45:37
Speaker
But then even if he would make it out the door in the movie, he just like he makes out the door hits the snow and it's just like, it just like ends. The Christmas vacation thing is so outlandish, but the movie is so outlandish and it's just funny. Yeah. And then it just keeps going on. You're like waiting for it to end. But it keeps going on. And it's like this guy's traveling eight miles to a Walmart parking lot. And then it pans up to his family watching it happen. And they're just like, and it's like you definitely would not have been able to see all that. But I love it. It was good. I love later in the movie, too. He's
00:46:05
Speaker
He brings it home with him, which you don't see, but he pulls it out with the trash and then Eddie just like picks it up and he's like, Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Christmas vacation two to one takes that round gets the point. So homeowners in the lead three to two going into round six, better trivia.
00:46:22
Speaker
After failing to get the Christmas lights to work one last time, Clark takes his frustration out on the plastic decorations in the front yard. Chevy Chase actually broke his pinky finger while punching the Santa Claus, so he resorts to kicking and clubbing the decorations after that. The film was rolling, so they kept that take. Christopher Columbus was initially supposed to direct Christmas Vacation.
00:46:43
Speaker
But due to a personality clash with Chevy Chase, he dropped out and John Hughes later gave him Home Alone to direct, which if you know any of the stories about Chevy Chase, not surprising.
00:46:58
Speaker
I love how Chris Columbus missed out on that, but then it was given home alone. Worked out better. It worked out so well. All right, back to Christmas vacation. It was actually rumored that Clark's rant about his boss, Mr. Shirley, was ad-libbed when he's asked what he really wants for Christmas. While this is somewhat true, I guess cast members who are facing Chevy Chase had signs hanging around their necks with one word written on them, and some of these were adjectives that Clark uses to describe his boss, Mr. Shirley.
00:47:24
Speaker
Nice. This is pretty well known, but the picture that Kevin Fiennes of Buzz's girlfriend was actually a picture of a boy made up to look like a girl because director Christopher Columbus thought it would be too mean to make fun of a girl like that. The boy that was used in the photo was the art director, Dan Webster's son. Woof. That's nice. It's nice that- Yeah. Buzz's girlfriend. Woof.
00:47:49
Speaker
All right. So for my last one, it's multi-parted, but it's, there's just some connections to the other national Lampoon films. The shoes that cousin Eddie wears are actually the same ones that he gave Clark as a gift in the original vacation movie. They're drinking eggnog out of Wally world mugs. Ellen says that Eddie has been out of work for close to seven years and national Lampoon's vacation, which came out in 1983. Eddie mentions that he has been laid off from an asbestos factory, which would have been about seven years prior.
00:48:17
Speaker
Chevy Chase appeared in some scenes wearing a navy blue Chicago Bears hat. It's the same hat he wore throughout the first two vacation movies. That hat is so cool. It's so cool. It's coming back in style. When Clark is in the attic, he pulls out an old present. It contains a card that read Happy Mother's Day 1983 Love Clark. And as we've said, that's when the original vacation movie came out. And in the attic, you can also see a plaque for Yellowstone Park, which can be seen above the vent and they visited Yellowstone on their way to
Final Thoughts & Listener Engagement
00:48:47
Speaker
Wally World.
00:48:47
Speaker
I love it when movies give little callbacks to previous films. Yeah, prop department really stepped up. Last thing I have, you had mentioned this earlier, but I never realized it until recently. When Kevin attacks Buzz and spills milk all over the counter, Peter's trying to clean up the spill to save the passports and tickets, and he throws a wad of wet napkins away.
00:49:05
Speaker
But there was also one plane ticket in that wad of napkins that's thrown in the trash. And when it zooms in on a little bit, you can see written in the corner is Kevin's name in black marker. So this gives a little bit of insight into how the ticketing person didn't question why they were missing someone and when they were handing out tickets, how they handed all of their tickets out.
00:49:25
Speaker
They didn't make that part super obvious, so I can see why that could obviously be missed. But it's a nice tie. It is. When you realize it, it kind of answers some of the questions of how they left him. Yeah. All of these are cool. I really like that Christopher Columbus was supposed to direct Christmas vacation and then took on Home Alone. But all of those connections to the other vacation films, I think that's pretty cool. And because of that,
00:49:49
Speaker
I am going to give this one to Christmas vacation. I'll take it. Not that I promote people getting hurt, but Chevy Chase breaking his pinky. I feel like he deserved it. I was going to say, you know, people working on that film were really happy that they're like, Oh, no. Yeah. Just keep just keep rolling. Chevy, you're doing so good. Maybe hit it some more with your pinky sticking out and yeah.
00:50:09
Speaker
Okay, so vacation is going to get that point. One thing I want to talk about here, Alex, and I didn't really know where to throw this in, but I wanted to bring it up. That is the fan theory that I somewhat subscribed to that Kevin's family is actually in the mob.
00:50:25
Speaker
Here are my reasons for thinking that. Peter McAllister lives in a massive house. His brother Rob is paying for the whole family to travel to Paris and the adults are all sitting in first class. We never find out what Peter or Rob do. In the book for Home Alone it says Peter is just in business. So they clearly have a lot of money that's coming from somewhere.
00:50:49
Speaker
When Harry is dressed up like the cop and asking for who owns the house and Peter comes down, the first thing he says to Harry who's pretending to be a cop is, am I under arrest? Why would that be the first thing you said to a cop? If you just weren't assuming, oh, well, they finally got us. What took you so long here?
00:51:07
Speaker
Also, Rob's apartment has a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower and they have that massive New York City flat. So there's just so much money. When they're in Paris trying to figure out a way to get back to the States, they're just like, we'll just take a private plane. Money was no issue.
00:51:22
Speaker
to these people. The family also isn't overly concerned that they left Kevin, an eight year old, home alone. I mean, Frank says, well, if it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses, which is a hilarious line. But in like a normal situation where someone left their kid halfway across the world, you're not making jokes like that. And then the parents, when Kevin's mom is leaving to get on a different flight to try to get home,
00:51:46
Speaker
They're like making jokes about it. Well, now you don't get lost. And the dad's just like, eh, whatever. Buzz is like, oh, he's fine. You know, we have smoke detectors. There's just like no one really was that concerned about anything, which to me makes it seem like they've seen some stuff. You know, they're like on the scale of the things we've seen, a kid just being left home alone is not that big of a deal.
00:52:06
Speaker
Another thing, when the pizza delivery guy comes to the house, he's freaked out when he hears the gangsters talking and runs away. Maybe it was known like, oh, that's one of the McAllister mob houses. Watch out around there. The wet bandits call the house the Silver Tuna, but why? It's big, but they didn't have a ton of stuff.
00:52:25
Speaker
And so what about it makes it the silver tuna of the house? This theory also ties in nicely to the Uncle Frank's original plan. He's kind of like the Fredo of the family. The cheapskate wants this taken care of so that he can kind of get some more power in the mob family. I don't know. It's a theory for a reason, but it's a theory that if you think about it a little bit, it kind of makes sense. The fact that everything is so vague and even like the movie like Angels with Filthy Souls, like being a mob movie, it's like, yeah.
00:52:55
Speaker
there's so much there okay so we are tied three to three heading into round seven better story better script more fun
00:53:05
Speaker
So for me, Christmas Vacation is a great communal experience. I feel like that's a movie I want to watch with a group of people, talk about it, laugh about it, quote it to each other. It's definitely a quotable movie. It does a really good job of pulling you through the steps leading up to Christmas, you know, getting the tree, buying the gifts, putting the lights on the house, being with your family, having like a big Christmas, Christmas Eve meal. The advent calendar through line I always liked. I think it was really cool. Love that.
00:53:31
Speaker
But to me, Home Alone is so engaging from start to finish. Christmas Vacation and Home Alone are both on all the time, and I've watched parts of these multiple times already this year, but I tend to watch Home Alone longer. And most of the time, if I come on even in the middle, I'm sticking around all the way to the end. Whereas Christmas Vacation, I may turn it on and watch a scene here or there, but I am seldom watching the entire movie more than once, start to finish in a Christmas season.
00:54:00
Speaker
While I like both of them, I have way more fun with Home Alone. I think with what you said, Christmas vacation, like you pick it up anywhere. You watch the scene, maybe two scenes. That's good. You quote it with whoever, but Home Alone, you watch it to get to the end because the end is the payoff. Yes. It just has to me more of the Christmas spirit. And I really only say that because of that subplot with his neighbor. Like I love that.
00:54:24
Speaker
Yeah. It's like what the whole season should be about. I do love Clark's enthusiasm and his just love of Christmas and everything he wants to do. He wants it to be grand and he wants his family to be involved. And I think there are some, some really nice moments within the movie that are really sweet, but they're both on TV. I'm watching them both like without a question, but to me, I mean, Home Alone just narrowly edges it out in terms of story script and more fun.
00:54:52
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it has more of a script, too. Yes. Christmas Vacation has scenes that are kind of stitched together, and they're funny. They're really funny scenes. Home Alone, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But it's just so dang enjoyable, charming, and engaging. It has everything that I would want out of a movie.
00:55:12
Speaker
I think we're gonna go Home Alone here for round seven. Yes, I'm comfortable with Home Alone as our winner. So Home Alone wins this year's Christmas movie matchup. Any closing thoughts before we get into our new rankings? Yeah, I think Christmas movies, we've talked about the official Five Point Scale now. They should also be, and not that this is a criteria, but they should be rewatchable. You should be able to watch them every year like it's the first time we've ever seen it. And there's so many Christmas movies that are like that.
00:55:42
Speaker
There's so many good ones that you just throw on every year and every year it doesn't get old. I mean, that just might be the, for lack of a better word, the magic of the season. But 30 something years later, these two movies are still going strong. I mean, even you, you picked a movie that's like 100 years old in our movie draft.
00:55:59
Speaker
It's almost 100 years old, and it's a classic. It's fantastic. Well, Christmas time's amazing. Christmas movies are amazing. I love being able to watch these with my kids now, sharing the experience with them. I agree, Alex. Christmas movies need to be rewatchable, and the best ones you can just watch over and over again.
00:56:17
Speaker
There's a reason why they have those like 25 days of Christmas because you should just throw it on every night or every other night. Okay, what are your rankings for these movies? So my rankings are Home Alone 90, Christmas Vacation 80. I am going Home Alone 94%. Love it.
00:56:34
Speaker
Christmas vacation, I'm sticking pretty close actually to the Rotten Tomatoes square. I'm giving it a 71%. Nice. And I could see how people would think this is a 90% though. Just for me personally, some of the things just hold me back. But every year, I feel like this movie moves up in my mind. So who knows, in 10 years, maybe it's an 85%. Both movies though, can't go wrong.
00:56:56
Speaker
So we will be back with more movie showdowns in the new year. We may have a little end of year episode for you coming out sometime a little after Christmas, but that won't be a full movie matchup.
00:57:12
Speaker
This has been a fun 2023 of the movie showdown with Rock and Rob. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2024 brings this show and it's been great. It's been a ton of fun and it's so much fun to watch movies that we love, but in a new way. Yes. This has been the movie showdown with Rock and Rob. Be sure to like, subscribe, rate and review all that fun stuff.
00:57:34
Speaker
and follow us on all the socials at Rock and Rob Show. Until next time, peace. I'm outta here. See ya. Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this. And totally redeem yourself! I'm not sure what to do with my hands. By a flation. That's your home! Are you too good for your home? Answer me! Hasta la vista, baby.