Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas family comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard and Catherine O’Hara . The film follows the story of eight year old Kevin (Culkin), who has to defend himself and is house from two robbers, Harry (Pesci) and Marv (Stern) , after his family leaves him behind on accident on their Christmas vacation.

Mr. And Mrs. McAllister have a bunch of children, so understandably, they can be a handful, but good parents, whether they have twenty or more kids or just one, they should be able to make sure they are being taken care of and included, though no parent or caregiver is perfect. Leaving a child behind should never happen, especially if they are little. Luckily, Kevin McAllister knows how to defend and take care of himself extremely well for an eight year old in the Chicago suburb. He knows how to bathe, grocery shop (and buys essentials like fabric softener, milk and a toothbrush), can do laundry, use microwave and order pizza, things most kids at or around that age don’t know how to do or even care to learn how to.

Kevin also knows how to take care of burglars, by torturing them (which unrealistically doesn’t seriously hurt or kill them), instead of calling 9-1-1 first. The torture is violent at times, so really young viewers may get very upset. Also the fact Kevin’s family forgets about him when they are going vacation, may also upset them and make them afraid of it happening to them. There is also some mild inappropriate language and adult humor, brief smoking and drinking.

This film is a holiday tradition for lots of people whether watching with family, a partner or alone. It is nerve racking, clever, hilarious, heartbreaking and heartwarming at times and well made. This is probably Macaulay Culkin’s most well known film and is Christmas favorite of people around the world. The main stars are all equally fantastic. There are iconic scenes like Kevin screaming after he slaps on the aftershave, Mrs. McAllister’s panic stricken face and many involving the criminals.

This movie is one that never gets old and people look forward to watching every year around the holidays. But this actually one that can be enjoyed year round, despite being a Christmas film. Everything about this one is great. It is a mixture f humorous, beautiful and painful. It is also perfectly imperfect and spectacular from beginning to end. Even composer John Williams’ music is outstanding. The sequels are nowhere near as wonderful as this truly one of a kind film. 9 & up 4.5/5