18 Moments That Will Ruin Home Alone For You

Look what you did, you little jerk.

by Andrew Pollard
When people think of their all-time favourite festive films, John Hughes' 1990 Home Alone is always right up there with the most appreciated. It is the most essential of viewing experiences no matter what time of year it is, but there's just something about abandonment and borderline child abuse that screams festivity. That love tends to mean that the - at times - massively flawed film gets a free pass for its problems. If putting on a cynical (rather than festive) hat, there are so many problems with the film, be they illogicalities, horrible parenting, or even just how an 8-year-old kid could construct such a near-flawless plan in order to combat two nefarious criminals that were attacking his homestead. Whilst watching Home Alone always brings a warm, fuzzy hue to many over the holiday period, we're now in January. As such, it's time to take off the festive blinkers and deconstruct Hughes' magical movie in order to examine some of the areas that could potentially ruin the film for those of a more stoic, clinical, cynical or bah humbug nature.

18. No Respect For The Law

As soon as this much-loved festive classic opens, we€™re treated to Joe Pesci decked out in full cop gear. So much of this just seems a little off and not quite right. For starters, who let the cop is and why is he just stood there? Then there€™s the fact that this is supposedly an officer of the law, yet both kids and adults are completely ignoring him? Is this the most non-pushy, walkover cop known to man? Has he not got any form of authority? Sure, we all know that this is really Pesci€™s Harry with a faux cop costume on, but the McAllister clan aren€™t aware of this. To anyone else, a cop randomly stood in your house would send all kinds of alarm bells ringing or would at least have you stop what you€™re doing to find out what exactly this officer wants.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.