Home Alone 3 (1997) 20th Century Fox/Comedy RT: 102 minutes Rated PG (language, slapstick violence, mild sensuality) Director: Raja Gosnell Screenplay: John Hughes Music: Nick Glennie-Smith Cinematography: Julio Macat Release date: December 12, 1997 (US) Starring: Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, Rya Kihlstedt, Lenny von Dohlen, David Thornton, Marian Seldes, Kevin Kilner, Seth Smith, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Curry, Baxter Harris, James Saito. Box Office: $30.6M (US)/$79M (US)
Rating: ** ½
Okay, I have to admit that Home Alone 3 isn’t a complete stinker. It’s actually better than I remember it being when I saw it at an advance screening on a Saturday morning in December ’97. I’m trying to decide whether or not it counts as a holiday movie since the action takes place right AFTER Christmas. Aw, what the hell. I’ll call it a holiday movie. Why not? After all, the franchise has more or less become synonymous with Christmas.
Although Home Alone 3 follows the same basic formula as its two predecessors, it’s a completely different movie with an entirely new set of characters. Other than title and location (Chicago, Illinois), it has NOTHING to do with the first two movies. By this time, 17YO Macaulay Culkin was too for his long-suffering parents to worry about him being left home alone. The producers brought in a new child actor Alex D. Linz (One Fine Day) to replace him. Original director Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire) also decided to sit this one out. First-timer Raja Gosnell (The Smurfs), who served as editor on the first two movies, takes the directorial reins for this mildly amusing installment of the popular franchise.
Like I said, Home Alone 3 isn’t too bad. It’s relatively harmless and will likely please the grade school audience for which it’s intended. I’m going to venture a guess and say it’s probably a lot better than the made-for-TV sequel Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002). I haven’t seen it nor do I ever intend to. I won’t waste anybody’s time by describing it, but the mere fact that it stars French Stewart (3rd Rock from the Sun) should tell you everything you need to know about it.
John Hughes, who wrote and produced the first two Home Alone movies, has come up with a slightly more sophisticated set of villains for this installment. Of course, they’re still no match for an 8YO boy determined to protect his home.
As the movie opens, a quartet of internationally wanted criminals has stolen a computer chip that renders missiles incapable of being detected by radars. They hide it in a toy remote car to sneak it past airport security, but lose it at the San Francisco airport when grumpy old Mrs. Hess (Seldes, Town & Country) mistakes it for her own bag (the two bags are identical, of course).
The four baddies- Peter (Krupa, Blue Streak), Alice (Kihlstedt, Nashville), Burton (von Dohlen, Electric Dreams) and Earl (Thornton, The Notebook)- follow her to Chicago and start systematically searching every home on her block for the valuable computer chip. They didn’t count on young Alex Pruitt (Linz), home from school with the chicken pox and alone because of two working parents. The toy car is in his possession. He received it as payment for shoveling Mrs. Hess’ walk. He spots Peter in one of his neighbor’s homes while looking through his telescope and immediately calls the police. Peter and company are gone by the time the police arrive and they write it off as a crank phone call. When it becomes clear that nobody will believe him, Alex takes matters into his own hands and tries to catch the bad guys on camera. Eventually, they figure out what’s going on and decide to go after the child. Naturally, they get more than they bargained for when they attempt to gain entry into Alex’s home. The kid has the place booby-trapped to the teeth. The villains are about to gain a whole new understanding of extreme physical pain.
I didn’t expect to enjoy Home Alone 3 as much as I did when I sat myself down to watch it again after all these years. What I mean to say is that I didn’t hate it. When I referred to it earlier as harmless, I meant that it won’t give you a migraine over its utter lack of originality or the general stupidity of it all. It’s a live-action cartoon with one small Road Runner and four Wile E. Coyotes. Some of it is kind of funny, but I can’t help but think about the impressionable children who might watch it at some point. I shudder to think that some dopey kid might attempt to try to recreate some of these booby traps at home. Hell, I wish that I had thought of these things as a kid. It would have been a sure fire way to keep my little brother out of my room. LOL! I kid you, of course, I’m not a complete maniac.
In the lead, Linz is just a bit annoying. His character is a prime example of movie kids not talking like real kids. I mean, what 8YO even knows the phrase “figments of my imagination”? The late Hughes might have had an ear for the way teenagers talk, but he really should have listened closer to preadolescents. After being scolded by the police and his mother (Morris, Sixteen Candles) for falsely reporting a crime, he says, “Excuse me for being a good citizen.” That sounds like something a teenager would say.
On the upside, the friendship that ultimately develops between Alex and Mrs. Hess is rather sweet. Home Alone 3 also marks an early screen appearance by a young Scarlett Johansson who I can only surmise did this one for the money. Having burst onto the scene a year earlier with a brilliant performance in the indie comedy/drama Manny & Lo, it really seemed like a major step down for the teen.
The villains are your typical buffoons who constantly find themselves outwitted by a resourceful child. Four idiots against one smart kid, talk about an uneven match-up! By the way, I always crack up when the one baddie squeaks, “You smashed my winkie!” after one particularly painful episode. At best, Home Alone 3 is moderate entertainment that won’t drain too many IQ points. You might not be too sorry that you watched it, but you’ll probably be embarrassed for laughing at it.
