Dan Mazer’s film, streaming on Disney+, is a painful spiritual sequel to the 1990 hit.
Burglars roasting on an open fire. Adults taking a pool ball to the nose. So go the Christmas caterwauls of Dan Mazer’s “Home Sweet Home Alone,” a painful spiritual sequel to the 1990 hit that made a meme of the child star Macaulay Culkin. Culkin’s Kevin McCallister does not appear, though his older brother Buzz (Devin Ratray) cameos to mention that the scamp has matured into a security alarm impresario.
Apt timing as now two homes are in peril: the Mercers, who, because of a rideshare mix-up, have jetted to Tokyo sans Max (Archie Yates), their 10-year-old son with a mouth like Don Rickles; and the McKenzies (Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney), who suspect Max of stealing an heirloom they need to pay off their mortgage.
This leveling of the moral stakes reveals that Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell’s script is aimed at nostalgists, not children. It’s hard to imagine any grade schooler chuckling at a runner about the proliferation of alt-milks at the grocery store, even with the desperately whimsical woodwind score. And when the darts (and kettlebells and fishing lures) start flying, it’s the grown-ups who learn a lesson about the meaning of family. Max’s emotional revelation happens mysteriously offscreen midway through the film, minutes after he dresses like Scarface and inhales whipped cream.
Who’s the real victim here? The audience — yet Kemper’s no-nonsense pixie who suffers a dozen thumbtacks to the face runs a close second.
Home Sweet Home Alone
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Watch on Disney+.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
