7 Movie Plots That Could Have Been Resolved In Five Minutes

The Plot: After Kevin's mum realises she's accidentally left him at home, she (justifiably) has a bit of a panic, before calling the authorities and asking them to send an officer to go and check on him.

When the officer actually arrives at the house, he knocks on the door a couple of times, rings the doorbell, has a quick look around and then calls it a day, radioing back to base to tell them that there's no-one home and that the house is secure.

And we all know how it goes from here: Kevin is left alone for days and is forced to fend off two burglars with a series of grotesque traps and violent weapons.

How It Could've Been Resolved Quickly: It's blatantly obvious how this one would have gone down in real life, which makes it all the more dumb when you're watching it onscreen.

Why would a policeman give up trying to find a missing child after about two minutes? All the lights are on inside the house, so the fact that he doesn't assume the child might be scared and hiding (which is what Kevin is doing) is totally ignorant, and with such a big property, it's amazing that a more extensive check isn't carried out.

This is a wealthy suburb, too, so why are the police so inept in this area? It doesn't make any sense. Yes, a lot of Home Alone is played for laughs, but there's a fine line between comedy and unbelievability, and this moment leans too far into the latter.

Had the cop done his job properly, Kevin would have been taken care of until his parents got home, and wouldn't have had to absolutely batter two burglars on Christmas Eve, of all nights.