Two Turtle Doves
If it wasn’t for Fox Movie Channel, I would be writing this entry cold. As it were, FMC is trying to compete with TBS in a “movie marathon on Christmas Day.” Whereas TBS showcases the beloved, A Christmas Story, FMC comes at you with a more recent entry into the Holiday movie canon, Home Alone.
Yup. That’s today’s treat. Home Alone. The movie that gave us Macaulay Culkin. The movie that reminded us that John Hughes was still alive. The movie that gave us Chris Columbus.
Okay. Since it was a while that I had seen Home Alone, let’s recap. Kevin McCallister gets into a spat with his family on the eve of their holiday trip to France. His mother sends him to his bed, but not before he wishes that he had no family. In the morning in a rush, the rest of the family runs to the airport for their trip leaving Kevin behind. He wakes up finds himself home alone, rejoices, and proceeds to do the things he always wanted to do. Eventually, the Water Bandits come a calling, and Kevin must defend his home from these thieves. Meanwhile, his mom realizing the error is trying to make her way back. Hitching a ride with Gus Polinksi she makes it home in time to find that Kevin has reformed his ways and misses his family.
Today’s Christmas them: home. The place you live. The place where your family is. A place where you gather together and celebrate Christmas. But it doesn’t have to be the old family home. Home could be the place where your friends or with your buddies. Home is where you find yourself surrounded with love. It’s here. It’s there. It’s down the street. It’s physical. It’s metal. It’s the atmosphere of the place. Home is where you are.
I like that FMC has decided that Home Alone is the holiday movie that it wants to make a holiday classic. I doubt that they could make it as such, but they’ll keep trying. I will keep up with it because damn if it ain’t stupid when Jennifer Connelly miscounts children, or when Catherine O’Hara tries to haggle for an airplane seat, or when John Candy (!) shows up as the Polka King of the Midwest. It’s a stupid movie, but there are just as many stupid other holiday films.
