Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Home Alone is a hit 1990 John Hughes-directed comedy in which Macaulay Culkin plays a young boy left to fend for himself when his parents, overwhelmed by having to keep track of 11 other kids, mistakenly leave him behind when they fly to Paris. What might be shocking to parents who haven't seen this movie since it first came out is the level of disrespect between kids and adults and the amount of sibling name-calling early in the movie. Adults speak of "nude beaches," and young Kevin is called a "disease" and "puke" by his older siblings and even a "little jerk" by his uncle. On his end, Kevin has absolutely no problem talking back to his mother. The parents themselves don't exactly emerge as positive role models, but then again, if they had been more mindful, the entire premise of the movie would be shot. There's a tremendous amount of slapstick violence in this movie, some of which results in very painful-looking injuries. The main character inflicts serious pain on two would-be burglars -- he trips them down a flight of stairs, burns them, hits them with heavy objects, places sharp objects on the ground for them to step on, and so on. Kevin also is shown watching a violent gangster movie that his parents have forbidden him from seeing. He finds an issue of Playboy in a secret stash in his older brother's room but doesn't express much interest in it. Profanity includes "ass," "bitch," "damn," "hell," and "s--t."
Sexual
Content
Kevin finds an old Playboy magazine but isn't very interested in it. Adults make reference to "nude beaches."
Violence
Frequent slapstick violence, especially toward the end. Characters fall down stairs, get hit with blunt objects, step on nails and glass, get burned. The lead character shoots one of the thieves trying to break into his house in the groin area with a BB gun. A young boy watches a mafia-themed movie from the 1940s in which a character kills another character with a machine gun while laughing maniacally.
Language
Siblings pick on their little brother, calling him a "disease" and "puke." An uncle of this boy calls him a "little jerk." Words such as "crap," "horse's ass," "bitch," "damn," "hell," and "s--t."
Social
Behavior
The film suggests that a child who's left alone can fend for him or herself without adult supervision. It also celebrates violence as a means of solving problems. On the other hand, it also has themes of mending family rifts and finding holiday cheer in unexpected ways.
Consumerism
Pepsi, American Airlines.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Brief shots of minor characters (adults) drinking and smoking. Champagne drinking on a plane.
