Home Alone 3

• Directed by Raja Gosnell
• December 12, 1997
• Based on Home Alone created by John Hughes

An 8-year-old boy defends his home from a group of international criminals employed by a terrorist organization. There is no good way to describe this.

What were they thinking?! With Home Alone 3 they tried to mix together the spy thriller with the Home Alone concept and came up with something that should’ve been put on The Family Channel rather than something that ended up being released theatrically. To use a modern term, Home Alone 3 often becomes ‘cringe.’

The villains, a collection of the least interesting baddies imagined, start the movie as competent international criminals who engineer the theft of an advanced microchip missile cloaking device to hand over to some nefarious organization. Then not so much. The transition from slick, cool, and competent to morons does not work. Consistency is important. Marv and Harry in Home Alone 1 and 2 were never smart making Kevin’s victory work. Somehow the criminals in this movie got dumb fast. 

This has everything the first two did. The necessary child left alone. Siblings that are indifferent if not resentful of the boy and a senior citizen who not only learns something from the kid at the center of the movie but a kid who learns something from that very senior citizen. In this case it is barely socially acclimated Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz) and the generally bitter Mrs. Hess (Marian Seldes) who has a chip on her shoulder for no distinct reason. Kevin in the other changed/learned something. Alex and Mrs. Hess not really. They just start getting along because he untied her in a garage.

Who can forget the traps? The ones we see feel like no effort was put into their conception by director Raja Gosnell or writer John Hughes. They are either discount versions of ones seen previously or knockoffs of the game Mousetrap. They lack an attempt at originality. It’s a very by the numbers film. It’s certainly cute. I can’t complain about that but it feels lazy. Like it’s not even trying.

I enjoyed myself, but I’m having a hard time now that I write this thing recalling anything that really stands out other than the ice skirt on the two criminals. It manages to satisfy on some level yet also be completely forgettable. The most notable aspect of this movie is the presence of a very young Scarlett Johansson as Alex’s older sister Molly.

Home Alone 3 isn’t terrible but it’s just a pale imitation of the first two movies. I don’t think you’ll hate it, but you may not remember much from it.