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Losing Kevin?! Let's Discuss Home Alone (1990)
45 Plays6 days ago
Welcome to the Chatsunami festive season! In this episode, Chatsunami is joined by Andrew to discuss the Christmas classic Home Alone 35 years later! But does it still hold up? Are the traps comical or brutal? And which characters do this duo HATE?! All of this and more to kick off the festive season!
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Dramatic
Reflecting on the Year and Christmas Plans
00:00:03
Speaker
sigh. You okay there, buddy? Yeah, it's just, don't you feel as if this year's flown by? One minute we're talking about Avatar Month, and then the next thing you know, we're celebrating the five year anniversary of Chatsunami. Which you conveniently lost my tickets for. The point is, we have our health. Which reminds me, now we need to get Christmas sorted. Way ahead of you. How about we do a Christmas carol? Nah, we reviewed the best version of that already. It's a Wonderful Life? Nah, we already got our wings for that one.
00:00:32
Speaker
Got it. We haven't reviewed that film yet, have we? You know, the one where the main character sets up booby traps to defeat the bad guys. But you already reviewed Skyfall. That's right, it's... You know what? Let's start the episode. Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:51
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chatsunami. My name's Chatsunami and joining me today is none other than my festive co-host himself, it is Andrew. Andrew, welcome back for the Christmas month of Chatsunami. I'm happy to be back, thank you for having me here. Yeah, how are you doing today? Fighting off a cold, which I'm sure the yeah ah listeners will be able to hear, unfortunately, in this episode, but otherwise, looking forward to the festive season, and we've already got our tree up, and I'm ready to record the first episode. Yeah, and I just
Introductions and Health Updates
00:01:20
Speaker
want to point out as well, if you hear some snuffly accent from myself, I also have a cold. i did not catch it from you, Andrew! I just want to make that clear. Oh, gosh, you yeah, there's definitely something going around, but that will not dampen our Christmas spirit, will it? Yours, maybe. Well, yeah, true. I don't have my tree up yet, so, yeah, the Christmas spirit is still rising in this house, a bit like a terrible Hallmark Christmas film, but that is indeed in next week's episode. So yeah,
Christmas Movies Reviewed in the Past
00:01:49
Speaker
we were going back and forth with one another, seeing as it's the Christmas season, thinking what can we talk about? Because we have reviewed all the heavy hitters of the season. We've reviewed a Muppet's Christmas Carol, we've done Jingle All The Way, we've done Klaus, Noel. Honestly, we've done a lot of the classics that you would put on the, to borrow a phrase from yourself, Andrew, the Christmas rotation. Yeah, we thought, what film haven't we done? And technically, Adam and I did an adjacent film, let's just say, all the way back in 2020, which is crazy to think it's five years ago for the dog version of this film. And the
Exploring Home Alone as a Christmas Classic
00:02:27
Speaker
film, of course, today is the 35-year-old classic. I cannot believe this film is 35 years old. It is Home Alone, which, yeah, how did Does it feel to be old, Andrew? It's painful. I mean, the film did technically come out prior to me being born, so it doesn't quite have that craziness to it, but the fact that it is 35 years old is very wild. Yeah, because, I mean, this even predates me. That's how old this film is. I'm looking at it going, oh my god, I wasn't even born at this point. i was going to say, you know, that old joke of born too but born too early to see the dog version of it. That's the way that phrase goes, isn't
Personal Experiences with Home Alone
00:03:04
Speaker
it? That's definitely how that goes here. Yeah, exactly.
00:03:07
Speaker
Jokes aside, what is your experience with this film? Because I was going to say, this isn't exactly a film where think either of us have said, oh yeah, it's a classic, we'll get round to watching it. It feels as if this film has always been on the Christmas rotation, hasn't it? Yeah, i mean, it's always on for sure. Sometimes the sequel more than the original. That is true. Yeah. But it's not one that I actively seek out most of the time. It's because it's on all the time. I don't typically have it on as a every year Christmas film. My wife, she had never seen this film because she was so against it. She hated Macaulay Culkin's face. Why? I know. She really hated his face in this movie and assumed he was just a bratty, awful kid. So last night was the first time that she's watched this movie and she absolutely adored him and it. And so she was so apologetic to Macaulay Culkin. Wow. I was about to say that my girlfriend felt the same about this film up until you brought
Home Alone's Relevance and Critique of Sequels
00:04:05
Speaker
Macaulay Culkin's face there.
00:04:07
Speaker
because the reason she doesn't like it ironically enough it was either last year or the year before she watched it for the first time the reason she didn't like it was because of the excessive violence i think everything up until that point she was like yeah this isn't too bad a christmas problem but as soon as the nail started coming oh my god what are you oh he steps on the nail oh we'll get into that later but yeah yeah oh yeah she was like yeah i don't like this film even when i was re-watching it i was like oh do you want to re-watch it because we're gonna be reviewing it today she was like yeah no she was like no thank you and i can see why and as you said we will get into that later but it's a very violent film of of the lie, but it's obviously under a veneer of slapstick humour and whatnot. But for me personally, I agree, this film has kind of always been there, it's always on TV, next to things like Miracle on 34th Street, Jingle All The Way, you know, all the Christmas classics, so it's hard not to know about this film. It's such a shame that kids nowadays probably know this film not from the first film, but from all the cash grab sequels. that came out after it that are plastered all over disney plus and places like that yeah to be honest
Plot and Character Dynamics of Home Alone
00:05:20
Speaker
i think i got up to home alone 3 because i'm sure i had the vhs for that you had the vhs for home alone 3 i think so either that or maybe it was a recording or maybe it was just on tv a lot at the time but have vivid memories of watching that film and just thinking my god this sucks
00:05:38
Speaker
I remember it would be on TV a decent amount. And so I never sat down to watch it. Anytime I'd catch like a bit of it, I was just like, this is bad. There was something about like a remote control car, a hard drive or something, memory drive or something that the car had. Yeah, it was like a chip or something inside that these terrorists wanted to sell to North Korea or something. Amazing. Wow. Imagine going from, oh yeah, these burglars want to burgle out. to international terrorism. You're like, there was a script page missing, I think, in between. You got it mixed up with the Bourne identity. But the kid has the most punchable face that I've ever seen. wrote a child star as well. La la la la That's the season.
00:06:22
Speaker
ah Straight to the tree. Wham, last Christmas. Jesus Christ. But yeah, with these films, and obviously we're just going to be talking about the first film today, but it's always been there. It's always been omnipresent. But you're completely right. The second film seems to
Critiquing the McAllister Family Dynamics
00:06:40
Speaker
always get the attention. And I think from what I remember, because I still need to do my annual rewatch of it, But there's a lot of beats, obviously, other than the fact he's left Home Alone again, but there's a lot of beats that the second film just takes from the first film. So when people watch Home Alone, and as you said, they're more than likely to watch the sequel. But i mean, the first one has a lot to love about it. It's got some really memorable performances from especially the Wet Bandits, which we all get onto, like Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, and they are absolutely fantastic in the roles. Nicole McCulkin, of course. You've got Catherine O'Hara, who is Nicole McCulkin's mum in this. And the rest.
00:07:22
Speaker
And John Candy's in it at one point. I keep forgetting John Candy's in this. Yeah, me too. Always makes me a wee bit sad, where I'm like, oh, look, it's John Candy. And I'm like, oh, it's John Candy. one my favourite characters in the movie as well. He's so nice. And ne he's only hit so briefly. Honestly, he lights up a film every time he appears. It's just like, aw, I love this film now. Yeah, we talked about doing Planes, Trains and Automobiles as like a holiday season film, but it's not going to make it this year, so maybe next year. That's the good thing about missing films like that, because it's like, although we don't do it this year, still got it the backlog at least, it gives us something to do. It keeps us off the streets and setting baby traps in our own houses. and Yeah.
Kevin's Creative Traps
00:08:00
Speaker
As we were saying, this film 35 years old, which honestly makes me feel old. The film was written by the late, great John Hughes and directed by Christopher Columbus. It has the amazing score from John Williams. It is just such i would say it's a... perfect film because it does have its flaws and again we will get into that trust me but one thing that I do find funny is looking at the IMDB page looking at the genres that's been lusted under so you you've got your holiday comedy, holiday family, slapstick comedy blah blah blah and then right in the front there's high concept comedy. What's high concept about this? I don't know!
00:08:41
Speaker
genuinely like, was there an architect involved in writing this film? You have to have a certain IQ. So if you look at high concept comedy and IMDb, you've got popular films such as In Your Dreams, which has just come out on Netflix, Back to the Future, Freaky Friday and Happy Gilmore 2. Very odd. But see, without any further ado, will we jump in and see why this film is so beloved and also partly traumatised us at all? with those traps yes jump straight through the window and onto to oncoming booby traps and we'll be right back after we avoid these paint cans and listen to these messages welcome to chatsunami a scottish variety podcast that
Promotions and Pop Culture Banter
00:09:23
Speaker
discusses topics from gaming and films to anime in general interest join me your host satsunami as well as the rest of our chatsunami team for our takes on these very important pop culture topics Sir, it's clearly a trap. I accept your pain! That happens three times in the film. Every time that general goes, don't do this one thing, he goes, do you know what I'm gonna do? It's the exact thing.
00:09:47
Speaker
He does as well. She had the pointy teeth. What was that about? looked like Bilbo when he wants the ring back. she t andt I just want the lightsaber one more time. Parasite says, no, you will get back into your office and work. No, says the man in Zoom. yeah Trousers are for the working man. You're bursting into your hotel room. Honey, we need to go.
00:10:10
Speaker
Leave the kids. We can milk an audition. Oh, oh.
00:10:18
Speaker
That's the worst thing you've ever said on any of the episodes. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out at our website, chattsunami.com, as well as all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:10:34
Speaker
Stay classy and have a man. This has been chattsunami.
Diving Deeper into Home Alone's Story
00:10:38
Speaker
I'm sorry. What?
00:10:44
Speaker
Howdy, I'm Luke from the Howdy Beans podcast, a variety podcast where I look into topics each week into the world of pop culture, like book reviews, where I delve deep into the expanded universe of Doctor Who, or a movie review on the 1998 cult classic, The Mummy. Well, if you're very lucky, I might take a peek under the hood of video games, both new and old. So what are you waiting for? Check out the Howdy Beans podcast now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and anywhere else that you may find your podcast. And I'll see you very soon.
00:11:13
Speaker
You know what? I didn't think you could fit so many baby traps into a house. But you know what? I think we managed to avoid them. Oh, sorry. And we're back. So, yeah, let's start with the story for this film. To be honest, you would think that the plot is paper thin with a title like Home Alone, wouldn't you? Yeah, i mean there's not too much to go off of based on just the title alone, I guess. Yeah, it's like, what's it about? Oh, it's a kid that's home alone. But you're like, yeah, Mr. Hughes, you're going to have to give us more.
00:11:45
Speaker
to Breakfast Club. Oh yeah. He had 16 candles. Ironically enough he did planes, trains and automobiles and he did Uncle Buck. He is a powerhouse of a writer. He also wrote for the Home Alone game. Oh my god. I saw Game Grumps play that last year. It's terrifying. Is that the one where they've got the McCulloch-Culkin face pop-up when he puts the aftershave on and he screams when you get the game over? There was a game like that, I remember seeing it, it was like the weirdest game over scheme, but anyway, that is a bit of another day, of course, but yeah, the plot, as we mentioned, is just essentially this boy, Kevin McAllister, he lives in a very affluent area of Chicago, Illinois, and his family and whole extended family who are absolutely horrible, and I that's the point, but his family are absolutely horrible to this wee boy. He is very dependent on them to do things, and eventually they, this is The title suggests they leave him accidentally home alone because they sleep in, they go to Paris without him, and then he essentially has to fight off this duo of criminals called the Wet Bandits who are basically casing the whole street, taking everything. And again, I feel as if the strength in this film is from the actors, because would you agree that this story is pretty bare bones in a way, in terms of the concept itself? Yeah, well, I mean, the very start of the film, it's just this kid realizing that he doesn't have anyone else in the house and having some fun in the house. There's not really much you can go off of that. It does start to wear a little thin, I think, around that point of the film. You're kind of wondering when are Marv and Harry going get involved here. And so, yeah, as just a general kind of concept, it was pretty boring. If it hadn't also been
Casting Choices and Behind-the-Scenes Insights
00:13:28
Speaker
for the potential burglary, which is, of course, the main kind of focus the film, then there wouldn't have been much to this. Yeah, because when you watch, and I'm not advocating, for legal reasons I'm not advocating that you go watch the other Home Alone films because they are absolutely horrifically bad. The second one's alright. No, other than the second one, sorry, let me rephrase. Other than the first two films, yeah, anything after that, do so your own discretion, but I feel as if the reason that they don't seem to work so well is because they take the Cliff Note version of the old ones and they're like, oh yeah, you've got Kid Home Alone, you've got the burglars, no offence to the actors in those films, but, well, except for that child you were talking about in the third one. But yeah, they don't really have strong cast or a strong kind of identity to them, they're all just leeching off. the previous two films and there's always so much you can really do with that concept but it is kind of endearing to see you've got Kevin who is as you said home alone and I completely agree with you if that whole film was just him messing about in the house putting up the electricity bill etc Well, sorry, I say that, but feel as if this family is, if not involved, would say adjacent to organised crime, because you know how much that house got sold for last year? The real house that they filmed in. It was like a couple million at least. Yeah, was like £4.1 million, I think, and $5.2 million. At least that's what they were wanting for it. I saw that it's been recently remodelled as well, and the inside no longer looks like... Whimsical. Whimsical house, and now it's all modern and like a doctor's office, kind of just white and no personality. Yeah, it's just sterile white walls, and it's just basically a model house inside. There's no character to it, but I'm sure whatever billionaire or millionaire... I'm sure they'll do it up, but yeah, absolutely crazy. As I was saying though, what do you think of the characters? you feel as if any overstay their welcome, or do you feel as if they do a good job for the most part? I think they set the characters' kind of times pretty well. The characters you're supposed to hate, they're on screen enough time to make sure you hate them, and the characters that you're supposed to like are around for a pretty significant amount time. The old man gets a lot of screen time, but there's a lot of kind of set up to that, so guess it makes sense. have to admit, I really like that part of the film. In the church? Yeah, that's a lovely scene because he's built up as this pseudo serial killer person. Well, it's the kids messing about and they wind up Kevin up saying, oh, he buries people with assault and everything and he's got the big shovel and he looks terrifying. But then, of course, he gets the chance to talk to Kevin and weirdly open up. Yeah, it's a sweet scene and, you know, the end scenes I would argue, seeing going back compared to the second one, I would argue that that's probably the more heartwarming ending that actually gets to see son, rather than Kevin staying at a five-star hotel and then giving the person on the street a turtle dove, which is still a sweet moment, but it's a free ornament. Yeah, she's still the streets. Yeah, it's a free ornament.
00:16:33
Speaker
off a tree from a five-star hotel you're like kevin you're gonna grow up to be a terrible person in this world seeing all seriousness i know that's the point of it but see the very beginning the family are just so insufferable aren't they i get the parents you know the parents are just the stereotypical oh kevin you're being annoying we have stuff to do that kind of thing i didn't mind them but have to admit i did laugh at seeing the cheapskate uncle yeah frank I can't remember if it's this
Logistical Aspects and Suspension of Disbelief
00:17:02
Speaker
following with the sequel where he says your dad paid good money for this trip and you're like that just tells you obviously everything that you need to know about this guy I mean that and the fact that when they're on the plane and I absolutely forgot about this scene where they're sitting on the plane and he's looking at the glasses that they've got. Yeah is they going to try to steal the glasses from the airplane? I was not around during this time of air travel where they had these proper glasses. Well I think depending on where you sit, they sometimes give you proper plates and cutlery and things. Obviously not for us blames and economy, but yeah. I don't know about glass like that right enough. What does Kevin's dad do that it seems like they all flew first class to France and there's 15 of them? Well, the kids went in coach, I think they said, or economy. So all the kids were in economy and they went on thingy, but that is actually really irresponsible. That's so irresponsible.
00:17:53
Speaker
bolt Exactly! You've now just left these, how many kids, there's like 11 children at the back there, and some of them are practically adults, so they've been kind of given the responsibility of looking after them, I guess, which is very much not fair on them, and also, you've now got like a plane full of people that are having to deal with these unsupervised 11 children, plus the play attendants. What absolute douchebags. Yeah, they're potable. Horrible people. Because I was trying to remember how they forgot Kevin, and i forgot it was, you know, that kid from across the road who has no concept of stranger danger? I know, he like gets into the car with that guy. I'm like, Jesus, you're going to end up on the side of a milk carton. That's right, like, why are you climbing into this van?
00:18:35
Speaker
Because as you said, of the older children does the headgown, and it's like, oh yeah, this is Kevin. You want to do a face ID on that? I'm not saying she has to act like a Navy SEAL, but she was pretty checked out anyway, and in fairness, As to her, she did the job that she was asked of her to count the kids. How would she have known that the neighbor kid would come across? There was so many things that worked against that family and and against Kevin. For the power going out, so all the alarm clocks went out. so yeah it's So Kevin's alarm clock didn't go because his cousin, who was played by McCulloch's brother, Kieran Culkin, Because he wets the bed, Kevin didn't want to sleep with him. So Kevin went to a separate room from him. They didn't check on Kevin because he wasn't staying with Fuller. And then the passport the night before, Kevin's power passport got put into delete the garbage with the pizza napkins. And so they wouldn't have checked the passports and everyone's passport to hand that out. There's a lot of suspension
Iconic Imagery and Modern Perspectives on Humor
00:19:22
Speaker
of disbelief in this film, which you really have to have, especially in the second part of this film, because i feel as if the second part is what people remember more than the first part. You know, obviously they remember but the, oh no, I'm home alone and everything. But can I just point something out that I find really weird? And I'm not the first person to point this out, but I find it really weird how the promotional image for this film, and everybody's seen it, even the dog version makes fun of it. It's McCulloch-Ulgan with his hands on his face and he's doing the scream and he's like, oh, goodness. But correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel as if the only time he actually does that in this film is the aftershave. Yeah, exactly. It's the aftershave scene. It just seems like a really weird scene to cherry-pick and then be like, that's the face of this film going forward. The implication is that he's making that face in reaction to the knowledge that he's all home alone and that those these two guys are trying to break in behind him so he's scared from being home alone. But in reality, yeah, it's a completely separate thing that happened that caused him to do that. Yeah, it just, it seems really weird that that is now the iconic image that you think of, because even if you look at the, yeah again, I wouldn't advise it, but if you look at the other posters for the films that came after two, they all copy it, except for the third one, I think. I think he's just got like a smirk or something. I do remember that, and I was like, you're not Kevin McAllister. Yeah, I hate that kid. Yeah, you yeah that's a spirit. Yeah. Speaking of very bad people, when we talk about the Wet Bandits, of course, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, which both all of them, as we said, they do an absolutely fantastic job. Now, this was my, I don't know about you, but this was my first exposure to Joe Pesci. He is an actor and obviously he does the role absolutely fantastically as this sinister burglar. and everything but I didn't realise that he's been all of these gangster films you know like Goodfellas and such Joe Pesci yeah Joe Pesci yeah yeah I know yeah I didn't know well obviously I knew it the last couple of years or so but I mean when I first watched this film way back when I genuinely didn't know that so see going from this to Goodfellas where he's like going around just beating people up in bars and things and you're like oh that is him his life took a bit of a downward spiral ever since that job in Illinois you know
00:21:48
Speaker
But yeah, what do you think of these two? It's absolutely wonderful casting. They're such a great comic relief character as well, like holding kind of a sinister element to them as well. They're such an interesting cast. And Joe Pesci sounds like he's a really kind of good chump with interacting with fans and whatnot as well. he seems like a really nice guy. But it's going to turn out that he's actually a terrible person. oh God, I hope not.
00:22:08
Speaker
Because I remember reading about that, that he tried not to swear on set. You know the scenes where he's supposed to be in pain and he does the mumbling under his breath and things. And he said, you know, he tried not to swear in front of McCullochulkin and everything. And he tried to be very nice to him and whatnot. And that is something, this is kind of a bit of an aside here, but it's something that I thought was really nice that they did care about the welfare of all the kids on this, because there's a particular scene where he's in Buzz's room and he has a picture of his quote-unquote girlfriend, which turns out to be, know if it's the director's son or something like that, or it's somebody's son in a wig. because
Analyzing Trap Creativity and Real-Life Implications
00:22:51
Speaker
they didn't want to have a picture of an actual girl and be very critical of like a literal child so they just did it for laughs kind of thing so those kind of aspects of it and as i said the way joe pesce treated wakal the kogadon said and everything that at least was good to hear didn't seem to be an overly bad experience because it really don't even remember hearing anything like oh this was a nightmare to work on and things like that that kind of thing it seemed as a for the most part as far as i know that everyone seemed to well although they seemed to like it i think especially joe pesci and daniel stern they weren't convinced that this was going to be holiday hit that is now see in all honesty see if you were working on this film would you think that this was going to be so influential going forward No, I mean, they're probably familiar with a lot of these kind of silly movies where they're just picking up a paycheck and no one's really going to see this kind of thing. But in its premise, it could have just been another film and there could have been very little cultural impact from it. But I don't think they could possibly have known how big this was going to be. And I mean, I suppose that is thanks to the directing with Chris Columbus, the writing from John Hughes, the amazing score, as we said, from John Williams, and of course all the, don't get me wrong, slightly hammy acting, because I am rambling, is there any point you want to bring up? There's one from back towards the early part of the movie where we see the old man out the window. We talked about earlier where Buzz warns him about the serial killer old man and whatnot. And it cuts like the most innocent, like it's supposed to be scary shot. And it cuts the most innocent looking old man you've ever seen. Like when I was watching it last night, myself, my wife and her sister were all watching it and burst out laughing. I mean, like that's the nicest looking old man you've ever seen. Smile of just baked cookies. To be honest, they shouldn't have got someone who looks like Santa. He looks more like Santa than the Santa that Kevin met. Oh yeah, that gives him the three tic-tacs. Yeah. So good. Yeah, but of course, that leads us on to the most memorable part of this film, which is of course the, oh God, the traps. Yeah, see watching this back as an adult. Did you have any thoughts about it? See, when you were a child watching this, did you think, oh, that must have hurt? Or did you think, oh, haha, funny? Much more the latter. I was definitely on the camp of like, ha ha, that's so silly. Ha ha, he got hurt. Ha ha ha. Now I'm like, ooh, ah, that's a second degree burn. Oh my God, he stepped on that nail. He has tetanus now. That nail scene is the worst. Oh yeah. don't think he puts enough pressure for it to go fully in. He just like pokes himself with it a little bit, but like, ouch. Considering there's a scene in A Quiet Place that mirrors that exact moment where somebody puts their foot through a nail, it's like, why are you putting this horror scene into this kid's home? I think at that point you would just pack up and leave. You'd be like, no, this house is not worth it. And I know obviously why they do it. Yeah, that was brought up in our house as well. think my sister-in-law was like, why haven't they given up now? And I was like, I think it's more revenge. I don't think it's a case of them still needing to rob this place. think they now want to get this kid. Well, yeah, they're calling me, calling me, because there is a scene where they're talking to one another, and Marv, one of the bandits, says, well, why don't we just go? We've robbed all the other houses. And think it's his pride.
00:26:00
Speaker
The other one's like, no, we've been working this street, this is our street, because it's after that
Moral Undertones and Kevin's Character Development
00:26:05
Speaker
very famous scene where Kevin puts on a film which think it's called, is that Angel with a Dirty Soul or something like that? No, it's Angel with Dirty Soul or something, or Dirty Wings or, yeah, like that. It's one of these films that I think is inspired by a real film. I think it's angel with a dirty face or something that. And it's like a film from the This one isn't real, but this parody film is inspired by that. There's a scene where he pretends that a gangster broke into the house and shoots up his partner. And that's the scene after where they're arguing with one another saying, no, we have to break into this house because we've been working this street for so long. And there's a great touch at the beginning where Joe Pesci's character ends up dressing up as a policeman at the beginning. And that's how Kevin recognises him as the guy because of the gold tooth and everything. So that's a really nice touch that he's there from the beginning and he knows that these people are away and It's good setup, I have to say. They did that very well to kind of set up the burglaries and the fact that he's casing the joint. And I knew going in and watching that it was Joe Pesci's character, but my wife and sister-in-law didn't. And so they're like, why is this police officer sticking around in his house for so long giving this message about being careful around the holidays? Yeah, it seems from that side of things that, yeah, why would this police officer be doing that? That's so odd. But then having the realization that he was there to case the joint was so great. think the director did their best to try and fill out all the plot holes that could possibly pop up, especially the elephant in the room of how can a mother leave their child at home and everything. And that leads to a lot of very poignant scenes of Catherine O'Hara, who plays Kevin's mum. She desperately, she does everything she can to get back to America, which is kind of annoying because I think, see, as soon as she gets back, I think the family are literally right behind her on Yeah, so I made this point when I watching the film. She didn't want to wait for a direct flight. She wanted to try get there as soon as possible, so she wanted to try and fly that night. And because she does that, she gets sent to all these different other cities and then has to get from Scranton, New York, which is the thing where the office is filmed, or set, rather. She then has to drive to Chicago, Illinois, hitchhiking with these poker players, poker music on the game. And if she had just waited for the direct flight, she would have arrived at the same time as the rest of the family and would have gone there at the same time. mean, there's literally like a five minute difference or something. You're like, okay, that is very frustrating. She spent so much money on those flights as well. At one point she bargain with this old couple for their seats and offered them first class tickets, her jewellery and $500 and that kind of thing. I can't remember if they ended up taking in the end. I think they did. Well, I don't know if they took the jewellery, but they definitely took the tickets. That's how she got from Paris to... To Dallas or something. Yeah, it was Paris to Dallas and then Dallas to Scranton, as you said, and then she gets on the John Candy wagon. Yeah. goes back to Illinois. I wouldn't have thought there would be a direct flight from Dallas, Texas to Paris, France. Maybe Dallas, Texas to Paris, Texas. Well, actually, know, I'm putting my actually glasses up here. When my partner and I, for last week's episode, when we went to China, we flew from Edinburgh to Helsinki and Helsinki airport has
Cultural Impact and Legacy of Home Alone
00:29:18
Speaker
direct flights to Dallas, apparently. I have no idea why. I dare. no idea why Dallas. That's such a long flight. I would have expected them to stop in New York and then go down to Dallas from there. know. It seems like such a weird airport. And don't get me wrong, maybe is a massive airport. I don't know much about airports. Everything's bigger in Texas. Yeah, but just, yeah, as you said, it just seems like a really weird connection to get. But anyway, Helsinki Airport, huge shout out to you from last week. Yeah, get Kevin Holmes safe.
00:29:47
Speaker
But no, jokes aside, yeah, that's a bit of an annoying thing where, yeah, as we said, they get home at that time. And Kevin's just fighting for his life, isn't he? This is like a water-as-wet statement to say, oh, these traps are really brutal they could cause grievous bodily harm, but they really can, can they? I mean, does he not get his hand burned or something? Yeah, he heats up the doorknob and he burns to such an extent it's like branded... Yeah, it's like he blends them because in the next film, I'm sure he's still got the blanding on his hand. Jesus. I don't know enough about burns, but like that's going to be second to close to third degree burn right there, which requires some serious medical attention.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah, but of course, it's all played for laughs, isn't it? Yeah. It's like, ha ha, isn't this funny? The flamethrower on his head, that would do such serious damage. Oh, you would never be able to grow your hair back again. that's it salt in the air there so just trying to think of what other traps they have they have the paint cans the tar on the stairs yeah the ice as well the icy stairs oh my god the concussions they would have had i'm pretty sure remember this correctly that years ago the youtube channel screen junkies did a thing where they would have like a medical expert come in and analyze injuries that were sustained in movies they did one for like die hard and that kind of thing and then they did one for home alone they would show what the different injuries would be from home alone would died several times and like had repetitive concussions on so many occasions that they'd have brain bleed. Oh yeah, I forgot as well that Kevin has a BB gun. That he fires into his crotch and then into the guy's head. Yeah, and he could actually blind him with that. Also, did you know, completely off topic, there is a Home Alone wiki.
00:31:27
Speaker
the less older bibby traps. Makes sense. So Kevin had planned this in such a way that he knew that at least one of them would have their shoes and socks off in order to then go through the open window on the outside to then step on these sharp Christmas ornaments. Because if they didn't have their shoes and socks off and stepped on those ornaments then it would have meant nothing but like because marv went through the tar which got his shoes stuck and then he got his socks taken off and he stepped on the nails then he fell back down and he left out through that room back up through the slippy ice stairs again and then around the side saw an open window went through the open window with his bare feet and stepped on the shards of frizzles ornaments that further cut up his feet i said to my wife and sister-in-law good thing they didn't go through the open window first for Kevin. They through the open window first when they had their shoes on. What they then responded with is that Kevin probably opened that window though after the fact. But he still would have had to know that one of them and the right one had taken their shoes off. There's a lot of things that needed to happen in a certain way for the booby traps to work. Yeah, this is like 4D chess going on here from like an 8 to 9 year old it's like death note all over again and i mean there's some really weird personal ones as well i mean there's a spider on the face which from what i remember the behind the scenes stuff for this i think they put the spider on his face and he was really terrified i mean i'd be terrified of a
Home Alone as a Holiday Tradition and Wrap-Up
00:32:45
Speaker
big tarantula in my face but it's like the scream was silent when they filmed it but they dumped the scream over later on so that obviously there was scare the spider yeah which think tarantulas really do you get spooked easy obviously if you're screaming that up the leg kind of goes in his mouth at one point was like oh yeah no it's hard i wouldn't be able to do that gonna be able to stop you getting the stunt double if you're like get in good on daniel stern the only time i noticed a stunt i'm sure there was many stunt doubles in that film but the only time i noticed it was when they were going along the zip line Oh yeah I was reading a thing on the think it was the IMDB page but it's like on the trivia page this is the actual wording of it McCauley Culkin's stunt double was a very short 30 year old man Amazing That's what it says They hired Danny DeVito to be the stunt double No, genuinely, there's nothing after that, by the way. Go look this up. It doesn't say, like, played by so-and-so, or played by this, or he was an established stunt double, or stunt actor. It's just, they call them a stunt double. There's a very short 30-year-old man. Poor short 30-year-old man there. We stand a short stunt, King. Yeah, we do. On Jackson Ami, we stand. But yeah, you've got the micro machines that they slip on, which must be such a great advertisement for micro machines. One of them gets an iron to the face, which I completely forgot about. Which then leaves again. was it just a mark or was it a burn? Like, was the iron on? I cannot remember, but yeah, I think it was off. I hope to God it was off. Otherwise you're going into horror territory there. These guys should be dead and they're lucky to be alive. But yeah, eventually they get concussed by not Santa next door, you know, where they'd smack someone in the back of the head with the snow shovel, which I have to say, see, unless that's made of steel or metal, it wouldn't have done much damage, would it? Considering what the other things they've been hit with, And then there's not very hard, I mean, he also might have hit him with quite some frosty. He is also the shovel killer, of course. Oh yeah, absolutely. Full circle for his character. Imagine it did turn out he was in fact a serial killer. I honestly would have loved to have seen the aftermath where, you know, his family comes over and there's that sweet moment where he smiles at Kevin and everything.
00:34:54
Speaker
then wax them over the head. No, no, it's not even that. It's like, oh, Dad, haven't seen you in years. How have you been? Oh, fine. I just beat up two burglars with that snow shovel. I think I've concussed them. Yeah, this is why we don't visit you anymore, Dad. Like, what the hell? This is why we left in the first place. Is what the argument was about in the first place? Yeah.
00:35:13
Speaker
ah You should have never left me home alone. And then that's it, end of film. As I said, this is why my girlfriend hates this film. Or not hates it, but doesn't like to watch it because she feels as if it's a bit too mean-spirited with the slapstick. And I can agree with her to that degree because when you watch it as an adult, you do see, oh, that could have been a concussion, that's going to be a big hospital bill, and obviously you don't want to go into a film with that mindset to be like, oh, that's bad, this is bad, but yeah, not great.
00:35:43
Speaker
to say But see overall, re-watching this film, how did it hold up for you? I think it held up pretty well. There were many aspects of it that I found a lot more endearing this time around. And I certainly have a lot more sympathy for Kevin's situation with regards to how he's treated from his family. Because initially i was just like, yeah, his family was mean, a little bit neglectful kind of thing. But he was also a bit of a brat. But like they are so unnecessarily mean to him. And when, like, his mother, Catherine Hara, is like, all these children's family and you're the one causing a scene. It's like, he wasn't even. He got forgotten about and then, like, got pushed around and something spilled. And then all of a sudden, he's the complete jerk. And the uncle calling him a giant jerk. If my brother or brother-in-law or, like, a family member referred to my child as a big jerk, was he, like, eight? Yeah, eight or nine or something. He is. He's a child. I would have gone galistic on them. That was such a horrible thing to say to a child. When you see him initially, you can see why the character is like that. You know, it gives more sympathy to Kevin and whatnot. But there are some moments where you're like, God, I wish somebody punched you in the face.
00:36:46
Speaker
I just told you to stop. but yeah As you said, if they spoke to your child that way, you know, you would. You would be completely defensive and be like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, cheapskate, come on now. But yeah, it does seem unnecessarily cruel in the beginning. And I don't know obviously at the very end they're like, oh, we're worried about Kevin. And supposedly there's supposed to be more scenes in Paris than the family. And thank God they took those scenes out, because i don't know if I would have thought this was good a film if I had to spend one more moment with that extended family, because they are, they're just horrible people. They're dreadful, yeah, and my sister-in-law said, I'm sad that this has happened to Kevin, but I'm quite glad that he didn't have to go on that holiday with that family. but
00:37:25
Speaker
my family were like that, I would be like, yeah, I'm not going. What? you doing here guys when they all pile back in at the end of the movie is it just the immediate family or is the extended family also there would assume the extended family are there i'm sure they are because they wouldn't have as much reason to because they could technically just fly back on the same flight that they had already booked yeah don't I actually know it, to be honest. Let's if I can the movie off of my phone real quick. A few minutes later. Yeah, so only his family come, which is good, because the others seem to suck. There one who was like, Kevin, you're the French call les incompetents. I don't know if that was a cousin or if that was a sibling, but I'd imagine it was one of the cousins. So good thing that they're there, and Fuller, the Kieran Culkin kid who just keeps wetting the bed. Not a great family.
00:38:08
Speaker
at least it got a couple of days away from them yeah honestly as a kind of closing point i would say that although it's an enjoyable film and everything it's got a lot of really good like hijinks and whatnot you have to obviously suspend your disbelief watching it as an adult there are definitely moments and people have edited the home alone trailer to resemble a horror film i've seen that Yeah, so good. But the fact that that goes so well means that this film technically could be a horror film at times. And obviously I'm not talking about with Santa Claus next door, but with Macaulay Culkin having to beat the wet bandits back with all of these Saw type traps. I compared it at one point to the movie Hostel. Oh, Jesus. i mean, that is fair, to be honest. I can't argue with that. But yeah, I feel as if this film does hold up, but it's going to be one of these films that i think in a couple of years there's going to be a disclaimer at the front that everyone's going to complain about, saying, please don't reenact anything from this film. You're gonna hurt someone. Because at least the second one that's so ridiculously over the top, you know, you've got the bricks flying and at one point Marv turns into a skeleton and he has to avoid everything. You know, as we said, it's brutal, but I would say it still holds up. But the real test though is would it still be in your Christmas rotation going forward? It's certainly in the Christmas rotation. I seem to say this every time. By this rate, I'll never have one that's every year, but like I think it's in every other year rotation for me. think the That's fair. I mean, I would say that as well, but it's one of those films that if I miss it a year or two, then I won't be too bummed out about it. It's not like a Muppets Christmas Carol, which of course we've reviewed before. Necessity. Yeah, exactly. It's like one of those films that you have to watch at Christmas in Home Alone.
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it's worth watching, but even if you did it once every two years, you know, you wouldn't be really missing out too much, because I feel as if, whether you like it or not, the sequel's always going to be on TV, so if you don't see the first one, you're definitely going to see the second one, so yeah, put on the Christmas rotation. But on that note, Andrew, thank you so much for joining me to talk about this both amazing yet painful film. Thank for having me. It was really fun revisit this film and talk about it in another kind of Christmas classic. Take it off there. have to rack our brains to think of some other ones for future years to do. I think the only one that comes off the top my head is Polar Express that we haven't done. Oh, God.
00:40:35
Speaker
I'd take a Hallmark film over that, but that is my spicy take. do not remember liking that film very much. That and... There was another one recently called That Christmas or This Christmas. You the one on Netflix? I don't know that one, no. Oh, I watched it last year. I think it came out last year on Netflix, but it sucks, I'm going to be honest. That's a Christmas cheer to start off the month, but... We will have some opposing opinions on the Poll Express that we can look at in the 2026. Yeah. December. Yeah, I'll be buying my ticket for that one with great glee. I'm going, oh boy, I can't wait to see Tom Hanks as three different characters. Uh, lucky you. I there's also a Christmas Carol, not the good one, of course, but the Jim Carrey one, which is terrifying. Don't let my wife hear you say that, that's her favourite one. Do you know, I saw that the IMAX. They still have vivid memories of, you know, the ghost of Christmas present just turning into skeleton. I don't know what's worse than that or the time morphed. mobile one too turned into a skeleton. Both dramatic in their own right. I've warmed to the Jim Carrey one. I used to really be against it, but I appreciate it now. It's still not on the level Muppets for me, but my wife thinks the opposite. She thinks the Muppets one's alright and the Jim Carrey one's fantastic. Well, you're just going to have to put it loop until she agrees that it's the best one. Oh yeah, just like Clockwork Orange style. With my son, there's going to battle to which one's better. Well, I would hope you'd be showing them the Muppets Christmas Carol one in the the Jim Carrey one, first of all. Yeah, I don't know which one we'll show first. I it'll be on. just don't know whether or not we'll save it for the evening or something until he's old enough. So that's the question of this episode. Leave your answer below. What do you prefer? Muppets Christmas Carol or
00:42:11
Speaker
The Jim Carrey one. Or Scrooged. yeah I've never seen that, but that's one of those films that I've never seen. Is that the Bill Murray one? Yeah, it is. Yeah, that's one that I always see the poster for it, but I've never actually sat down and watched it. No, me neither. You know what? Maybe this year. But unfortunately, that is not going to be one of the films we'll be reviewing this year. Johnny Depp is going to be in a new one coming up. And unfortunately, we won't be reviewing that next week. But next week and the week after, and the week after that, of course, we have got some amazing Christmas-filled content coming up. So be sure to stick around because you won't want to miss these episodes. so They are filled with festive cheer and fun. And if you don't listen to them, then Santa won't come to your house. So spread the word. It's true.
00:42:55
Speaker
But jokes aside, and for legal reasons that is indeed a joke, if there's any younger listeners catching that last phrase. Jokes aside, yeah, cannot wait for that. So if you want to catch more episodes from our ourselves, then you can indeed check us out at our website, chatsanami.com, as well as all good podcast apps. I also want to thank our amazing Pandalorean patrons, Robotic Battle Toaster, Ghosty and Cryptic 1991. Thank you so much for supporting the show. And if you would like... early access to episodes, exclusive episodes as well, and a bunch of lovely bonus content for the holidays, then you can check us out at our Patreon page, patreon.com forward slash chatsanami. This podcast is of course a proud member of the Podpack Collective. For more information, check us out our Twitter slash X page at Podpack Collective. But until next week, and I'm away to put up my Christmas tree now. Stay safe.
00:43:43
Speaker
Stay awesome, stay jolly, and most importantly, please stop saying booby traps in your house because Santa's not going to be able to get in. Or maybe. We'll see. See you later, you filthy animals. And a happy new year. I know that was the sequel, but I'm allowed it.
00:43:57
Speaker
but