Home Alone Every December
I watch Home Alone every December without fail. The first one, and usually the second, but I stop there. The others don’t count. It’s pure habit at this point, the way some people drink eggnog or drive around looking at Christmas lights. Just something that happens.
Apparently there’s a pug version now. I saw it mentioned somewhere and just kept scrolling. The idea of remixing Home Alone with a novelty element feels absurd, but then again, why do I keep watching the exact same movie every year if it’s already perfect? Maybe I’m just nostalgic. Maybe the movie earns it.
The original works because it actually works. The jokes are solid, the stakes feel real, Kevin isn’t annoying. Macaulay Culkin nailed it. When they made sequels they just made sequels—they missed whatever the first one had. So I stopped watching them.
The pug version is probably fine. Probably pointless. But it exists, because apparently nothing can just stay as it is. Everything gets a remix, a reboot, a novelty spin. I get it. At least this one leaves the original alone.
I’ll be watching the original in December, like always.