Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - The coolest kid in the world incites kiddie bellylaughs once again

3/23/2022

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - The coolest kid in the world incites kiddie bellylaughs once again

♥♥♥♥

The popular trio from the first film reappear around a skyscraper on this amusing poster for Chris Columbus' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Kevin's McCallister's family is heading to Florida for a Christmas vacation, but at the airport Kevin gets into the wrong plane and ends up in New York, and there he is reunited with the ugly crooks from the first Home Alone!

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is written and produced by John Hughes (Beethoven (1992)) and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Chris Columbus (Adventures in Babysitting (1987)). It is the sequel to runaway hit Home Alone (1990) by the same filmmakers with an also returning cast.

Very, very unoriginal, Home Alone 2 almost feels like a remake of the original film, - but then that film was also so bloody good that it doesn't matter much. Macauley Culkin (Saved! (2004)) is still the cutest, coolest kid in the universe here, although we this time around have no patience with his unacceptably aloof, stressed-out parents. As characters they basically deserve a slow suffocation death for their negligence to their kid.

Luckily Kevin's a go-getter and a tough cookie. SPOILER His friendship with the pigeon lady of Central Park and the moving ending to Home Alone 2 melts hearts as butter, again some movie magic that is largely due to Hughes' script and Culkin's performance and over-all angelic appearance.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is well staged with funny bits also from Tim Curry (The Secret Moonacre (2008)) and Rob Schneider (Noah (2012)) at the Plaza Hotel where Kevin takes residence, - and lots of violent slapstick gags which are fairly tasteless but nevertheless get me chuckling mirthfully every time.

Chris Columbus: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) - Potter and Co. return for handsome if overlong first sequel

Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - Columbus and Robin Williams score with a truly great family jewel

The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure (writer)
Gremlins (1984) - Dante's 1980s puppetry classic (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 28 mil. $

Box office: 358.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 12.81 times its cost)

[Home Alone 2: Lost in New York premiered 15 November (California) and runs 120 minutes. The script was part of Hughes' 6-picture deal with Fox. Culkin was paid 4.5 mil. $ for his performance, 40 times the 110k $ he got for the first film - plus 5% of the film's gross (17.94 mil. $ if the world gross was the gross decided on/8.67 mil. $ if it was the North-American gross alone); a new record pay for a child actor of only 11 years old. Daniel Stern (City Slickers (1991)) was paid 1 mil. $. Shooting took place from December 1991 - May 1992 in New York, California and Illinois, including in Chicago. Donald Trump got himself a cameo in the film in exchange for letting the shoot take place at his Plaza Hotel. The film opened #1 to a 31.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 2 weekends and remained in the top 5 for another 4 weeks (#2-#3-#3-#3), grossing 173.5 mil. $ (48.3 % of the total gross). The film was the 2nd highest-grossing of the year in North America, behind The Bodyguard, and the 3rd highest-grossing of the year worldwide, behind The Bodyguard and Aladdin. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. The Home Alone franchise was cemented with Home Alone 3 (1997) with a script by Hughes but a new director and cast. Columbus returned with Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Culkin returned in Darlene Love: All Alone on Christmas (1992, music video) and theatrically in The Good Son (1993); Joe Pesci (The Death Collector (1976)) in A Bronx Tale (1993); and Stern in The Wonder Years (1988-93) and theatrically in Rookie of the Year (1993). Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is rotten at 35 % with a 4.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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3/23/2022

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - The coolest kid in the world incites kiddie bellylaughs once again

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