Critics Called “Home Alone ”'Forced and Joyless' in 1990. On Our 35th Annual Rewatch, Can We Agree They Really Missed the Mark?
- - Critics Called “Home Alone ”'Forced and Joyless' in 1990. On Our 35th Annual Rewatch, Can We Agree They Really Missed the Mark?
Meredith WilshereNovember 17, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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20th Century/Disney
Macaulay Culkin in 'Home Alone' (1990)
When Home Alone came out 35 years ago, not everyone thought it would be considered a holiday classic.
After the movie premiered on Nov. 16, 1990, critics — including our own — were really not feeling the Christmas spirit from the family-friendly caper film.
For example, PEOPLE's critic described it as “holly-folly of a Christmas comedy,” highlighting director Chris Columbus' "insane" choice to let then-9-year-old Macaulay Culkin "carry an entire movie." And though the review praised Joe Pesci and Catherine O'Hara's supporting turns, it also said of Kevin's at-home antics, "There hasn't been a celebration this forced and joyless since Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve."
On the whole, it just didn't ring any silver bells: "Between [John] Hughes's hermetic plotting, Columbus's overluminous lighting, John Williams's sugar plum score, and the unearned bathos of the conclusion, you're being force-fed your cup of cheer."
20th Century/Disney
Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone (1990)
Other critics felt similarly. One from the Chicago Reader declared, "The physical cruelty that dominates the last act leaves a sour taste, and the multiple continuity errors that make the last scene possible strain one’s suspension of disbelief to near the breaking point."
Another critic from the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that while Hughes' films often "find a way to be funny while still staying somewhere within the boundaries of remote plausibility," this time, "he strays so far from his premise that the movie suffers ... [the plot is] so implausible that it makes it hard for us to really care about the plight of the kid."
20th Century/Disney
Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone (1990)
Along with Culkin, Pesci and O'Hara, the movie also featured Daniel Stern, John Candy, Kieran Culkin and Devin Ratray, among others.
Because some critics didn't see its value in 1990, it's fair to say they had no faith in its staying power. However, from the outset, the movie proved to be a success, making $285.7 million at the domestic box office and becoming the highest-grossing movie that year.
"You never know, when you start, how a project is going to turn out,'' O'Hara, who plays Kate, told PEOPLE in December 1990. ''You hope for the best, but I don't think any of us could have imagined so fantastic a response as we've been getting. I mean, I've been hearing from people I haven't seen since high school, all of them calling to ask if I have a piece of the profits.''
Since the initial reception, both good and bad, the movie has become a bona fide classic, being spoofed, revisited and referenced in different forms of media over the last three decades, with Macaulay himself most recently revisiting the character for an ad campaign with Home Instead.
The movie is rewatched annually by families and grown friends, you can visit Home Alone-themed bars, and the home in Winnetka, Ill., used for the exteriors now is mobbed annually by visitors looking to get a piece of that McAllister magic.
Of course, it's almost impossible to predict a phenomenon upon the first viewing — and while the critic was doing his job to evaluate the technical aspects of the movie, the fact that it was made with kids in mind means a "sugar plum score" and a "cartoonish confrontation" between characters offer a fun, light-hearted escape during days when the sun sets at 4 p.m. and playing outside is no longer an option.
The plot inevitably has some holes, but much like Christmas cookies, it's okay to enjoy without a second thought.
While it can be hard to wrap one’s head around how Kevin had time to boobytrap the whole house — especially when just one of those tasks would take anyone up to an hour — it's part of what makes it a magical Christmas movie. As a young viewer, I didn't care about plot holes or continuity mistakes. I simply couldn't grasp why Kevin made an entire mac and cheese dinner and never took a single bite. That's where my priorities lay.
20th Century/Disney
Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone (1990)
Home Alone isn’t a perfect movie, but I, like millions of other people around the world, revisit it every year, having now memorized each line, beat and song. It's comforting to know Kevin's family is going to leave him year after year, that the 8-year-old will, without a doubt, leave Pesci and Stern bruised, battered, and in handcuffs at the end of the movie. And dramatic as it may be, Williams' score is also now considered a staple of Christmas playlists from mall stores to cookie swaps.
As with many things that happen during the holidays, sometimes it’s nice to put aside logic, logistics and realism, and just suspend your belief to see an elementary schooler get the better of two bad guys over and over again.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
