MOVIE REVIEW: HOME SWEET HOME ALONE (2021)

We’re long past the point of debating whether or not we need another Home Alone movie. What’s got the hamster in my brain going is the question of whether this counts as another TV movie or not. The last two were made-for-TV fodder, and this installment was a Disney+ streaming exclusive. As far as my rating scale is concerned, a movie is a movie, but knowing if it is intended as a feature film or a TV-movie helps me gauge my expectations for it. Then again, I don’t think anything could have properly set my expectations for Home Sweet Home Alone.

Jeff McKenzie lost his job, so he and his wife Pam are trying to sell their house without the kids finding out. Money is tight and the McKenzie’s are stressed, but they try to keep up appearances when Jeff’s successful (and boastful) brother brings his family to stay with them over Christmas. While they are trying to show the house to prospective buyers, a woman brings her impertinent son, Max, to their door just so he can use the bathroom. Later, Jeff discovers that one of the creepy dolls they have lying around is worth enough help them keep the house. When they can’t find it, Jeff and Pam both recall Max looking at it before leaving. When Max is accidentally left home alone by his traveling parents, a showdown ensues.

In every other Home Alone movie, the lines are clear- the kid is the good guy and the robbers are the bad guys. In this movie, it’s not clear at all who plays the protagonist role. We see quite a bit of both the McKenzie’s and Max, and frankly, the McKenzie’s come across as the more likeable side in this conflict. They’re not criminals trying to take other people’s property. Rather, they’re trying to recover something that is rightfully theirs. Max comes across as a sneering brat in need of a good come-to-Jesus moment, which raises some serious questions about this movie.

Kevin McCallister was a smart aleck and borderline troublemaker, but there was a sweetness to him just under the surface. That’s not evident with Max. How on earth did a film get approved where the child left home alone (the archetypal hero for this entire series) is someone audiences feel little to no sympathy for? From the idea stage to the studio greenlighting stage, there should have been somebody calling the writers out on this. The Home Alone template of a kid defending his home from robbers is stale by now, but this is a change-up to the formula that just doesn’t work.

There is a cutesy cameo role in this film that anchors it to the original Home Alone universe. It’s one of the only ingredients that made me smile, and it does help frame events toward the end of the film. I enjoyed Ellie Kemper on The Office, and she seems to have fun playing a frantic parent trying to keep her life together. Rob Delaney, however, seems to be doing his best impersonation of Ty Burrell’s character Phil from Modern Family. Together, they lay it on just a little too thick during their attempt to raid Max’s house. There are too many poor decisions to maintain suspension of disbelief.

The most egregious sin of this film comes in the form of a final-reel twist that renders the whole film unnecessary. Depriving the audience of a payoff at the height of the film’s momentum makes viewers feel cheated. One of the most important rules of filmmaking is to never leave your audience feeling as though they wasted their time. Home Sweet Home Alone gets right up to the edge of that feeling. For many, it will be more memorable than other Home Alone sequels because of how unsatisfying it turns out to be.

FINAL RATING: 2 out of 5