Perhaps it’s a bit too early to gear up for Christmas. I’ve already finished my Christmas shopping, and now it’s just a matter of sitting around, waiting for that inevitable day of binge-eating, binge-drinking, and binge-watching. A festival of binge-induced poor decisions, and the one day of the year where we don’t have to feel bad about overconsumption. There are, of course, traditions for this time of year. We all have them, and my old tradition of viewing Home Alone 2: Lost in New York whilst my parents did the washing up, will have to come to an end. Not just because I’ll have to dry the dishes this year, but also because, in a feverish state of illness, I decided to watch it extremely early. Christmas has unofficially begun, and there’s no turning back now.
Expanding on the first Home Alone film as minimally as possible, this sequel looks to rattle through all the tropes and tribulations of the first, with the only real change being a trip to the Big Apple. I’m startled at how smart this film is, with its red herring moments and plot devices appearing from the very first seconds. Everything falls into place all too well, but much of it feels ineffective, especially considering this Kevin McCallister caper clocks in at two hours. A very long time to spend with a story that was told in half an hour less only two years before, but one that offers up a couple of defining moments.
Although soppy and out of place, the melodrama is excusable considering how great the gags are. There’s a strange, manic energy to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and I feel a lot of it comes from being disgruntled at rattling through the exact same story. To counter this, there are moments of extreme banality, played up with such incredible charm by Tim Curry and Rob Schneider, who serve as surprisingly competent cogs in a machine that was whirring away without them for quite some time. There’s a definite rushed feeling to this one, as if there was no time to write any new jokes, so instead the writers focused on adapting all the first film’s gags into this one, but it works all too well.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York has the frantic energy necessary to make a sequel work, knowing full well that the only way to perform better is to think bigger. Inspiring stuff, highlighting that, at the heart of every family, is a capitalist dreamworld full of presents, luxury suites, and pigeons. Adapting well to the bigger budget, and making no changes to a series of plot points that served well for the first film, this Culkin-led classic has memorable moments, but its overindulgence in zany madness may be a little too much for those looking for a grounded, Christmas classic. But to look for grounded Christmas ideals and messages is to miss out on seeing Daniel Stern having bricks thrown at his head from a definitely fatal height, Joe Pesci blowing himself up with a toilet, and a toy store owner who looks like the inspiration for Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. Fascinatingly erratic, lethal in its presentation, and a manic festive feature.
