The Baxter family is moving from California to Maine, but when the parents get snowed in at a Christmas party, the Baxter children must protect their new home from three burglars trying to break in to steal a valuable painting hidden in the safe in “Home Alone: The Holiday Heist.” This is the fifth film in the “Home Alone” series; the second film to not feature the McAllister family, after “Home Alone 3;” and the second film to not be released theatrically premiering on what was then known as ABC Family, now known as Freeform in 2012.

This is easily the lowest quality movie of the “Home Alone” series. It’s made for television and it’s obvious to see. You can also tell this isn’t shooting to be a made for network TV film, but a made for basic cable film. It has some nice homages to the original two films, but it comes away feeling like a cheap imitation of all four that came before it.

I genuinely like the move away from the McAllister family and the Chicago setting. It does allow this film to be something of its own. “Home Alone 3” made the right move in getting away from the McAllisters, but kept it set in Chicago and I think it hurt that film overall. This movie knows what it is and while it doesn’t try to be more than it is, it just doesn’t make it into the good category.

This film has two bona fide stars in it in Malcolm McDowell and Ed Asner. These two actors are legends and while it’s cool to see them in a “Home Alone” movie, I wish it was one of the better ones. While watching this, I also had a lot of fun recognizing some of the other actors from other works. These actors are lesser known than McDowell and Asner but have been in enough stuff to be recognizable. The two that I recalled easiest were Jodelle Ferland and Eddie Steeples. I recognized Ferland from her role as Five on the SyFy show “Dark Matter.” And, Steeples, I recognized from his role as “Crab Man” on “My Name Is Earl” and his recurring role on “Raising Hope.” However, both Ferland’s and Steeples’ other known roles were better than this film.

Overall, I didn’t hate this film like I thought I was going to do. I didn’t like it, but I enjoyed it. I had low expectations due to the fact I knew it had been an ABC Family Original movie years ago. It’s cheesy. It’s not good. But it was still kind of fun.

Ranking: 2 stars out of 5

What did you think about “Home Alone: The Holiday Heist?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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