12 Reviews of Christmas - Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

           Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's that time of year again. Twelve days, twelve specials. It's time, once again, for 12 Reviews of Christmas. We got some new releases, some all-time yuletide classics, and a few surprises full of Christmas cheer. So, let's get started with a new release: Home Sweet Home Alone. 

           Released exclusively on Disney+, the latest chapter of the Home Alone series focuses on Jeff and Pam McKenzie, who are being forced to sell their home due to being unable to pay for it, which they keep secret from their children Abby and Chris. During an open house, they meet a young British kid named Max Mercer, along with his mother Carol. Max is taken aback by a bizarre doll with its face upside down. Carol and Max then head home to prepare for a family trip to Tokyo for the Christmas holiday. Later that night, after the arrival of Jeff's brother Hunter and his wife Mei, Jeff learns how much that the rare doll is worth: $200,000. Realizing that the money would mean not having to sell their house, Jeff and Pam try to find the doll, but are unable to. Figuring that Max took it, Jeff heads to the Mercer house to get it back. 

        Unfortunately, he arrives just as everyone except for Carol, who had taken an earlier flight, gets ready to head to the airport. Jeff then sneaks in to look around, but screws up and is forced to flee. Max wakes up, and he realizes he's been left home alone. In Tokyo, Carol berates Max's uncle Blake for failing to do a proper headcount, and she heads to the airport to take the next available flight back to Chicago. 

         So, the rest of the movie plays out like this: Jeff and Pam come up with plans to get into the Mercer house to find the doll. Max, mistakingly believing that they want to kidnap him and sell him off for $200,000, sets traps for the two, and Carol takes a lengthy flight from Tokyo to Chicago to get home to Max. Meanwhile, we see a familiar face from the earlier movies, as Buzz McCallister, the older brother of Kevin McCallister from the first two Home Alone movies, is now a Chicago police officer, who initially spots Jeff and Pam, buy they talk him out of taking them in, lying about the Mercer house belonging to them, and he later brushes off a call to check on Max as part of Kevin's annual Christmas prank on Buzz. 

           Ultimately, during the final confrontation, where Max unleashes a maelstrom of pranks and traps, Jeff and Pam finally reveal the reason for being there: to find the doll, and the notion Max had about the two trying to kidnap him was just a big misunderstanding, and they have him stay at their place until his mother gets back. At the McKenzie house, Jeff and Pam's nephew Ollie finds the doll, and Max catches it after Ollie tosses it. Yeah, it turns out that Ollie took the doll, and had it the entire time. Carol arrives, and takes Max home, which is still a wreck after the previous night's mayhem. The following year, the Mercers have Christmas dinner with the McKenzies, and all is well. 

      Okay, so Home Sweet Home Alone has been getting utterly slammed by critics, and I definitely understand the reason why. The movie felt very "been there, done that" and didn't offer much in terms of originality. Also, the reason for Jeff and Pam breaking into Max's house is more sad than funny. I mean, trying to get back a valuable doll to sell it to pay off house payments? That's not funny, and it's really messed up how a misunderstanding led everything that happened. However, I will concede that, because Jeff and Pam aren't professional thieves, as Pam is a school teacher and Jeff is a computer I.T. expert, them bumbling around and screwing up actually makes more sense. 

            One real positive that the movie has going for it is the cast. Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney were both terrific as Pam and Jeff, as were Archie Yates as Max and Aisling Bea as Carol. Other comedy greats like Keenan Thompson, Andrew Daly, Pete Holmes, Tim Simons, and Chris Parnell round out the supporting cast, and they're all pretty good in this movie. But again, my favorite part was the return of Devin Rattray as Buzz McCallister. 

            The other positive in this movie, for me, is the open acknowledgement of the first two Home Alone movies with Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister. I really appreciate that, as it acknowledges that this movie is in the same continuity as those two, whereas the other Home Alone sequels really didn't feel like the same franchise. I will give director Dan Mazer and writers Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell that, as it definitely seem that they approached this film as fans of the original two. Unfortunately, again, the plot, lack of originality with the traps, and a few blatant references to Scarface make this film a bit of a drag. It's unfortunate, as I really wanted to love this movie, as I really liked the first two Home Alone movies. As it stands, it's more enjoyable than Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4, and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist. However, I can only really give Home Sweet Home Alone a rating of 3.75/5. Only give it a watch of you're genuinely curious. Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and join me tomorrow as we continue 12 Reviews of Christmas with The Holiday.