# Home Alone 3 (1997)

### reviewed by
James Sanford

HOME ALONE 3 (Twentieth-Century Fox) Directed by Raja Gosnell Less a sequel than a haphazard remake of the original "Home Alone," "Home Alone 3" is a shining example of desperate studio executives trying to squeeze a few more drops out of a dying cash-cow. It's also further proof --as if any were needed-- that John Hughes-scripted movies are now a thing to be feared instead of anticipated, as they might have been ten years ago during his "Breakfast Club"/"Planes, Trains and Automobiles"/"Pretty in Pink" heyday. At least the producers had the good sense to retire the ungracefully aging Macaulay Culkin, whose performances in his most recent films (such as the acclaimed "Getting Even With Dad" and the unjustly-snubbed-by-Oscar "Richie Rich") smacked of smug self-indulgence. Unfortunately, the filmmakers have not found a young actor with the comic timing of the younger, less affected Culkin: Alex D. Linz, who takes the lead in this installment, seems like one of those little dolls who's been told far too many times exactly how adorable he is. There's a fine line between precocious and precious, and young Mr. Linz continually errs on the side of cutesy-poo. In fact, there's nothing adorable about "Home Alone 3" at all, despite Hughes' dumping of a load of gooey sentimentality into the midst of the proceedings, as beguiling moppet Alex (Linz) defrosts the glacial heart of a bitter old neighbor. The spies-chasing-microchip plot is nothing more than a facile excuse for a second act that's stuffed to the gills with poorly executed slapstick that director Raja Gosnell obviously has no feel for. Say what you will about the first two "Home Alone"s, but at least they were professionally made entertainments; this one seems to have been shot and pasted together by the least-promising students in a community-college film class. Despite the title, the real story that's being continued here is Hughes', and it's a depressing tale of a once-bright talent stuck in a continuing downward spiral.

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