Roger Ebert believed ‘Home Alone 3’ was the best movie of the franchise
The first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when thinking of the Home Alone franchise is undoubtedly Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister, who remains the face of the brand despite an additional four movies having been churned out in the 30-plus years since his second and final outing Lost in New York.
Even though the very essence of Home Alone is tied so strongly to Kevin’s battles against the Wet Bandits, no property with any ounce of name value or awareness is simply allowed to wither and die in modern Hollywood, so it was inevitable the series would continue. Even at that, one of the most notable critics of the modern era carried an opinion that flew in the face of the widely accepted consensus.
Home Alone 3 follows much the same template as the first two, with the obvious exception of being populated by brand new characters, including one played by a young Scarlett Johansson. It was a minor commercial success but hardly a critical darling, and even ended up being nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in the ‘Worst Sequel or Remake’ category.
However, in his review, Ebert anointed it as the best Home Alone yet: “To my astonishment, I liked the third Home Alone movie better than the first two; I’m even going so far as to recommend it, although not to grownups unless they are having a very silly day.”
This came after he’d been aghast at the mere prospect of a potential threequel, with Ebert noting in his review for Lost in New York: “Call me hard-hearted, call me cynical, but please don’t call me if they make Home Alone 3.” Fortunately, he was gracious enough to admit that “these words now have to be eaten” after he was sufficiently won over and charmed by the follow-up.
Although he’s aware it follows “the exact same formula as the first two,” Ebert was a fan of the reduced levels of cynicism and violence prevalent in the script and story, describing it as “splendid wish fulfilment and escapism.” In addition, he named the performance of star Alex D. Linz as one of the key reasons why he liked the movie so much, even if he doesn’t go so far as to call him a superior protagonist to Culkin’s Kevin.
He would also praise the traps being funnier and less painful for the characters as a major reason, as well as the third act focusing more on slapstick than special effects. As a whole, Ebert anointed Home Alone 3 as “more entertaining than the first two films.” Either that or, in his own words, “I was having a very silly day.”
Gene Siskel wasn’t quite as enamoured, remarking that “if this movie had a theme song, it would be ‘Dumbbells Keep Falling on My Head,'” going so far as to say, “I feel sorry for every family that’s going to be suckered into seeing Home Alone 3.” The long-time colleagues were famous for getting into arguments on-air for their disagreements over the merits of certain movies, but Home Alone 3 comfortably ranks as one of the most surprising.
