Amazon.com video review:
Now and forever a favorite among kids, this 1990 comedy
written by John Hughes (The Breakfast
Club) and directed by Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire)
ushered Macaulay Culkin onto the screen as a troubled 8-year-old who
doesn't comfortably mesh with his large family. He's forced to grow a
little after being accidentally left behind when his folks and
siblings fly off to Paris. A good-looking boy, Culkin lights up the
screen during several funny sequences, the most famous of which finds
him screaming for joy when he realizes he's unsupervised in his own
house. A bit wooden with dialogue, the then-little star's voice could
grate on the nerves (especially in long, wise-child passages of pure
bromide), but he unquestionably carries the film. Billie Bird and John
Candy show up as two of the interesting strangers Culkin's character
meets. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are entertainingly cartoonish as
thieves, but the ensuing violence once the little hero decides to keep
them out of his house is over-the-top. --Tom Keogh
