The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Paint Cans, Blowtorches, and VHS Tapes: The Home Alone Time Capsule
Christmas movies come in many forms, from the overtly festive to those that merely use the holiday as a backdrop for their storytelling. Home Alone, the 1990 classic starring Macaulay Culkin as the resourceful Kevin McAllister, falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum – a film so deeply associated with Christmas that it's become a holiday tradition, yet one that could theoretically work in any season.
Revisiting this beloved film through adult eyes reveals fascinating dimensions that may have escaped us as children. The chemistry between Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as bumbling burglars Harry and Marv is nothing short of magical – so essential, in fact, that when Stern was temporarily replaced during production due to salary disputes, the studio quickly realized their mistake and brought him back. Their cartoonish reactions to Kevin's increasingly dangerous home defense system provide the film's biggest laughs, though they also highlight one of its more problematic aspects.
The over-the-top violence in Home Alone feels directly inspired by Looney Tunes, with characters surviving traps that would seriously injure or kill real human beings. Paint cans to the face, blowtorches to the head, and various electrocutions push the boundaries of PG territory, making the film potentially inappropriate for the very young audiences who might otherwise enjoy it. This violence, played strictly for laughs in 1990, lands differently today – particularly for parents wondering when to introduce their children to this holiday staple. Despite these considerations, Home Alone remains a brilliant, nostalgic time capsule of early 90s filmmaking that earns its place in the Christmas movie canon with a solid 4/5 on my holiday rating scale and an even stronger 4.5/5 as a film overall.
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On the couch. We're laughing, crying, feeling it all, breaking down the big screen, the hits and the flaws. Grab your seat, press play. Let's take the pic. Lights camera action. Episode of the Couch Critic.
Speaker 2:I'm your host, nathan, and on today's episode we're talking about another Christmas movie, but this time it's one that makes a little bit more sense on my Christmas list. So last week we talked about Batman Returns, which was a movie that Katie and I both agreed really didn't need to take place during Christmas and probably wasn't the best in the Batman franchise in general wasn't the best in the Batman franchise in general. So we're moving past that. But before I move past that into our movie of today, I forgot, because sometimes when I record these episodes I'm going to be honest about the behind the scenes of the show. Sometimes when I record episodes, I record them before I can look at our fan mail, which we do have. We have our fan mail. You can click on the send us a text link in the show notes so you can interact with the show. So sometimes I don't get to look at those until after I've already recorded an episode. But that's okay, because this fan mail came from our loyal listener, sam, one of my students, and he said that we should take a look at Batman Under the Red Hood. So maybe in a future episode or maybe on a cinema Saturday or something, I will check out that movie and I will review it because it has been given as a movie that we should watch. So if you have a movie that you think we should watch, go ahead. Send us some fan mail and your pick might be reviewed on a future episode.
Speaker 2:So let's get right into the movie we're going to be talking about today, and that is Home Alone. So Home Alone stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, daniel Stern as Marv, joe Pesci as Harry and Catherine O'Hara as Kate McAllister. So this movie came out in 1990. So this was right at the end of the 80s. It still had a little bit of an 80s feel to it, but it was just starting into the 90s. This is a classic movie. This is one of those movies that I'm going to be honest Again, I did not fully finish because it is such an iconic movie. It's something I know frontwards and backwards, the whole plot of the movie. I didn't feel like it was needed, and so I apologize to those who feel like I can't give a full review because I didn't sit through it, but I've seen it a bunch of times. Granted, I've seen a lot of these movies a bunch of times. But again, I digress, I just didn't sit through it. So that's not to say that I don't have some good things to say about it.
Speaker 2:So let's jump right into my likes and dislikes of Home Alone. The first like obviously is the acting. Everyone has good chemistry together. I was looking at some of the trivia, which you notice I didn't really do any trivia for this either, but here's a little tidbit. Daniel Stern was originally cast as Marv, but he was asking a little bit of a pay hike and so they kind of got rid of him for a little bit and brought in this other guy who just did not get along with Joe Pesci. They didn't really have good chemistry together and so he was let go. Didn't really have good chemistry together and so he was let go. And so the studio, you know, suck it up and decided to pay daniel stern what he was asking, because they had worked together before and joe pesci and him just had great chemistry together. So there's no denying that the acting this movie is very good.
Speaker 2:The comedy in it hits really well. Some of the stuff is a little dated because, again, it is from the 90s. My wife and I were watching a little bit of it and we noticed that Kevin McAllister, macaulay Culkin's character was watching VHS tapes. So that's how old this movie is. You ask a kid nowadays what a VHS is, they won't be able to tell you. Or they'll see one. They'll say what's that box? So yeah, prepare to feel old watching this movie.
Speaker 2:But this is just a fun classic movie. It takes a lot of. It takes a lot of hits or hints. Uh, it gives a lot of nods to. I believe it gives a lot of nods to classic cartoons like looney tunes. We kind of talked about this. Bob and I from static radio talked about how the movie gremlins took a lot of nods to looney tunes as well, especially, especially since Chuck Jones did a cameo in that movie.
Speaker 2:But I feel like Home Alone does that too in the way of what I'm going to consider part of my dislikes as well, which was the over-the-top violence against Marv and Harry, which obviously was done for comedic value. It was not done like a horror movie, which some people have joked that this movie could be a horror movie. But it is very over the top, violent things that a normal person in real life probably would not survive, some of the things that take place to both marv and harry. But that's just part of the movie. This is about a kid who is trying to protect his home while his family has left him home alone. So Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, like I said before, have great chemistry together. They do a great job. Everyone again does a great job in this movie.
Speaker 2:I think the person that people most don't talk about is John Candy. Now, john Candy was friends with John Hughes and apparently John Candy was the only person that John Hughes allowed to improvise his lines. Almost all of his dialogue was improvised and it was very short but sweet role and it kind a very short but sweet role and it kind of reminded me of his character from Playing Trains and Automobiles, which apparently is part of the reason why he played it the way he did. He was kind of doing an homage to that character as well. So this is just a fun, fun movie.
Speaker 2:But I will say, going back to my dislike, it's not the most appropriate movie to show young children. It's it seems like it's one of those movies that when, at the time when you watched it as a kid, a lot of the things went over your head, you didn't realize how outrageous the things that were happening to these adults were at the time you just thought, oh, that was funny. A paint can hit him in his private part, but you don't realize how that would probably really hurt somebody. Or a blowtorch to someone's head, or being electrocuted like little things like that. You don't realize it when you watch it as a kid, but then when you watch it as an adult and you have children yourself, you're like there is no way I'm going to let my children watch this for a while, for a long while. So, with that being said, home Alone is very nostalgic to watch. It brings you back to a time where I I would be surprised that this movie wouldn't be rated PG 13 nowadays because of how the violence is. It's very gruesome at times. I mean it's not like a Saul movie, gross bad stuff, but it is very like oh, my goodness, whoa.
Speaker 2:So I will, I will say say that and I'll also say this is one of those movies that I think it's the original. I mean I could be wrong, but to me it feels like one of the original cash grab franchises. The reason I say that is because they did the first one. They obviously saw the success of it, so they decided to do a second one. Macaulay Culkin came back, joe Pesci, daniel Stern, the original, all the original people came back for the second one and they're like whoa. And then you have Tim Curry in there, who just makes it even funnier in there, who just makes it even funnier.
Speaker 2:And so they see the success of that one no-transcript and they're like, well, oh man, usually you would think a studio would be like, well, no, the original people want to come back. What's the point? Well, they didn't think that. So they've made I think six, maybe seven Home Alones, and only the first two had the original cast. I think one of the later ones. They got Buzz to come back as a cop as kind of like a homage to the original. But it's just, I really feel like it's one of the original cash grab movies when it comes to like just make more and more and more and more. But I haven't even watched past the second one because to me there's no point.
Speaker 2:There is literally no point If it doesn't have Kevin McAllister and his family and Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, it doesn't make any sense to do it. So those are my thoughts on home alone. I thought it was a fun movie. It is very over the top violent so you might not want to watch it with the young ones and yeah, that's home alone there for you. So as a christmas movie, this is one of those movies that kind of like die hard, which I never thought about before. But if you you take Christmas out of Home Alone, could you still have a movie about a kid being left alone? Yes, of course you could.
Speaker 2:But I'm starting to rethink my criteria when it comes to giving a rating for a Christmas movie, for a Christmas movie, and I think my ratings is going to amount to how important is this movie around the holidays? Like, if you don't watch this movie, it just doesn't feel like Christmas, and for me it's not a movie that I have to watch for it to feel like Christmas. So I can't give it a perfect five out of five for Christmas. But it is like it's Home Alone, you know. So you just connect it to Christmas. So for that I'm going to give Home Alone a four out of five on the Christmas rating scale and as a movie in general, I think it's a fun movie. Will I show it to my four-year-old and three-year-old? No, I will not, but I do think it's fun. I can't wait till the day that I can watch it with them. So that is why I'm giving Home Alone a 4.5 out of 5 in a general rating scale. Those are my thoughts on Home Alone rating scale. Those are my thoughts on Home Alone.
Speaker 2:And here is the quote for next week's Christmas movie. Here it goes. Are you sure you've never done this before? Because you drive like an absolute pro who makes a lot of mistakes. If you think you know what that movie is, if you think you know what that movie is, send us some fan mail, hit that, send us a text link and take a guess. You never know, you might get a shout out, just like sam, who's been a very loyal listener. Thank you, my friend. This has been the couch critic where every movie gets its close-up.
Speaker 1:It's not just a movie, it's a way of life. We'll watch it together, day or night, so settle in close and don't miss a flick. This is the moment for the couch critic.
