By Geno McGahee
I love Xmas. It’s just a great festive time where people seem to be nicer with the exception of the black Friday shoppers and those that try to stab you as you try to take your new Xbox One to your car. They do not have that Xmas spirit, but many do, and part of the feeling are the films that you can watch during this time.
One of the films that screams Xmas is the 1990 comedy HOME ALONE with Macaulay Culkin as the 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, pitted against two would be robbers, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern). It was a huge hit where Kevin battled off the two robbers using traps and weapons to hurt them, which eventually led to their arrest. It was tough to imagine a sequel to such a movie. Where do you go with it? Well, they went to New York City with it and, remarkably, made another funny Xmas flick.
Once again, the McCallisters are going on vacation, and somehow lose Kevin as they fly to Florida. Once again, Kevin is the outcast of the family. At some sort of Christmas show, he sings with a group as his older brother, Buzz (Devin Ratray) makes fun of him behind his back. The entire audience can’t stop laughing at what he’s doing, which gets Kevin angry enough to punch out his older brother and collapse the stage and enrage the audience. Kevin is once again in the doghouse and forced to sleep in the attic. I don’t know why the family is so against Kevin when they clearly saw Buzz being a dick, but I don’t think the movie would have sold if Devin Ratray was the one fighting off the bad guys. So, I guess this makes sense.
The McCallister parents, Peter (John Heard) and Kate (Catherine O’Hara), oversleep again, as they did in the first film, and jump out of bed screaming “we did it again!” They then both look at the camera and scream, making a funny face. This was purely for the audience’s amusement and it was hilarious. I have always been a fan of John Heard. He can do just about any role, but when he gets zany, he really overplays it and I appreciate that. I was disappointed in the character he played, however. His brother “Uncle Frank” constantly tears into Kevin, and even calls him a pervert when he innocently takes his tie off a door knob when Frank is taking a shower. I would have loved to see Peter kick the living shit out of Uncle Frank, but he just allows it. Uncle Frank needed a kick in the balls.
They head to the airport and after some confusion, Kevin ends up on the wrong plane, headed to New York. This is good news for Kevin. He has the Xmas spirit and wants a real tree and Big Apple is a great place to be during this holiday. This film actually got a few points right away just from this setting alone. I love NYC and it’s a great place for any film.
It’s a small world as Harry and Marv have escaped prison and are planning to hit up a toy store in NYC, leading to another meeting and more madness. Kevin uses his dad’s credit card and a voice changer to get the room. The voice changer is pretty funny and he uses it with regularity. I remember it being on the market and I’m sure it sold well because of this movie. Some old gags are revisited, including using the mobster movie to scare people. This time, he’s scaring the hotel employees, including the always entertaining Tim Curry, who plays Concierge. You can tell that Curry had a lot of fun in this role and really over-acted. I could have done without Rob Schneider.
The showdown eventually takes place between Harry and Marv and Kevin again and although some of it was just a retread of the first, they did change it up enough to be new and funny. I actually found this movie a lot funnier than the first and Daniel Stern was absolutely hilarious in his cartoon character-ish portrayal of Marv. This really felt like a Looney Tune at times.
HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK is hilarious and well worth a watch. If you are planning an Xmas movie marathon, this would be a good addition. It has that Xmas festive vibe, and enough laughs to be really enjoyable. I was actually surprised by how good this was. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 8/10
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