Home Alone is probably one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time. For nearly thirty years, audiences have loved the story of Kevin McAllister getting the best of two robbers when he’s left home alone. There are many delightful holiday moments in this movie as well as a lot of laughs.
But, as time has gone on, more and more people have pointed out inconsistencies that are hard to ignore. While there are definitely some allowances that can be made, there are so many incongruities that it’s hard to forgive them all. Here are ten of the biggest inconsistencies from Home Alone that didn’t make sense in the movie.
WHY KEVIN’S PARENTS COULDN’T JUST CALL HIM
In order to tell the story of Kevin getting left home alone to fend for himself, there were a lot of things that had to fall into place. When Kevin’s parents arrive in Paris, they try to get in contact with people in the area and call the house. They aren’t able to call because the phone lines in the neighborhood are down.
But, Kevin is shown at his house being able to call and order pizza. While some people pointed out that this might have been possible given how phone lines worked in the early ’90s, it still seems like a bit of a stretch.
THE FACT THAT THE ROBBERS WERE NEVER SERIOUSLY INJURED
For many people, the funniest part of this movie is seeing Kevin get the best of the Wet Bandits. He has an elaborate plan to keep the burglars from stealing or from hurting him, and most of this plan involves causing bodily harm to the robbers.
While in the movie most of these injuries are played off as really funny or minor, the truth is that they would likely have been really severe. They would have ended up with broken bones, third-degree burns, and concussions at the very least.
WHY KEVIN DOESN’T CALL THE COPS
The absence of any police in these movies is definitely one of the biggest inconsistencies that keep coming up. As a kid, especially a white kid in an affluent neighborhood, it’s likely that Kevin would have been taught by his parents to call the cops when he’s in trouble.
So, it’s really strange that he never even thinks to do this. Even when he knows that two criminals are going to be coming to his house, he doesn’t even think to call them or any other adult.
THE FACT THAT LITERALLY NO ONE THEY KNEW WAS AROUND
When Kevin’s parents are trying to figure out how to get in contact with Kevin, they start calling around to people they know who are back in Chicago. However, they aren’t able to get in contact with anyone they know. While it might make sense that a few people they knew were on vacation or out of town at the same time, it’s really hard to believe that literally everyone they know in the city was out of touch.
They are clearly a well-off family, and it’s hard to believe they don’t know dozens of people. They really couldn’t have found one person they knew to check on Kevin?
THAT KEVIN’S MOM COULDN’T GET A TICKET FROM SCRANTON TO CHICAGO
The fact that the McCallister’s have a lot of money might make it so they have a huge house and are able to take vacations as a family to Paris, but this also creates a bit of an incongruent situation.
When Kate McCallister arrives in Chicago, she isn’t able to get a seat on any plane. Given how much money she has, it seems strange she couldn’t work something out. And, since it sounded like most of the flights weren’t going out until the morning, it made just as much sense for her to wait given how long the drive was.
WHEN DID KEVIN HAVE TIME TO PLAN EVERYTHING FOR THE BURGLARS?
While Kevin making the master plan and executing it against the Wet Bandits might be the highlight of the movie, it’s hard to believe that Kevin was able to pull it off in such a short amount of time.
He basically has one day to design this entire thing, and it seems like he’s at the church until the early evening. It seems impossible for one eight-year-old kid to rig up this whole scheme in just a few hours.
THAT THE COPS DO NOTHING TO HELP
This is another example of police creating some of the biggest inconsistencies in this movie. While the McCallisters get in touch with the police, all they do is briefly check the house and say they don’t see anyone there.
While it’s not like police don’t ever do a bad job at times, given that the McCallisters are probably prominent members of the community, it’s strange that they don’t keep following up with the police. It seems like they would try and get them to keep doing their job.
WHY THE PIZZA DELIVERY GUY DOESN’T CALL THE COPS
Once again, no one in the Home Alone universe ever seems to contact the cops for anything. When Kevin uses the movie recording to scare the pizza delivery guy away, he just runs away and that’s it.
If he really believed he was being shot at or threatened, it would make sense for him to contact the authorities. It doesn’t make much sense that he just went on his way. Also, a real gunshot sounds very different than a recording on the television, so this is another plot hole in this situation.
HOW THE HOUSE GETS PERFECTLY CLEANED UP
As far as the movie shows, it appears that the attempted robbery takes place on Christmas Eve while Kevin’s family arrives back home the next morning.
Given this fact, the house would likely still be a complete disaster. Somehow it seems that Kevin cleaned up feathers, tar, and broken things all over the house in record time.
THE FACT THE OLD MAN MARLEY JUST LEAVES KEVIN ALONE AFTER RESCUING HIM FROM THE WET BANDITS
Of all the incongruencies from Home Alone, this one is one of the hardest to understand. Old Man Marley is the person who rescues Kevin from the Wet Bandits. But, then it appears he just takes him back to his house. He doesn’t make sure that Kevin has adults around.
He doesn’t worry about where Kevin’s family is or have Kevin talk to the cops. He literally just drops him back off alone at his house, and this is extremely negligent at best.
