Home Alone
Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Kevin goes to the grocery, he buys Tide detergent. While walking home, the two bags break, but no Tide detergent falls out.

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Suggested correction: Maybe he returned it.

No chance, we see him buy it and then use it in a later scene.

Ssiscool

Home Alone mistake picture

Revealing mistake: As Kevin is flying off the front porch on the toboggan, you can see the small wheels mounted on the bottom of the sled to aid in its "jump". (00:25:30)

Other mistake: Kevin rides down the stairs on his sled and out the door. He originally lined up the sled at the top of the stairs, but it is clear that the stairs lie to the right of the door. His sled went straight down the stairs, therefore making it impossible to go straight out the door in one movement as shown. (00:25:25)

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Kevin goes outside the first time and sees the cars in the garage, the light isn't on. When it shows the garage again in the next shot, the light is on. (00:20:25)

Bishop73

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Suggested correction: The light could be motion activated. Either Kevin's movement or passing vehicles could have turned it on, regardless of the time of day. I have motion detector lights in my carport and they constantly go on and off in the daytime if it's low-light and cars pass by fast enough. People walking their dogs can also activate it if they are close enough. They sometimes stay on until I have to manually turn the power off, then on again.

raywest

That would explain it only if the light came on when Kevin "activated" it. It stays off during the first scene, and he doesn't make any motion towards the garage when the camera is on him. Nor do we see any vehicles or people pass behind him.

Bishop73

How likely is it that this movie - taken in 1990 - had access to the developed technology that we have today, to make automatic lights turn on?

Infrared motion sensors were around in the 80s.

Revealing mistake: When Harry trips on the fan string throwing feathers all over him, the fan sound is heard running but there's no air blowing at him as the feathers are falling around him undisturbed. A few shots later, we see the fan on and blowing feathers around the room which is what it should have been doing.

jerimiah

Factual error: When Kevin's mom leaves Paris to return home, the plane shown departing the airport is a DC-9. No airline uses this plane for trans-Atlantic service - it doesn't have the required range.

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Suggested correction: Although not explicitly mentioned, it could be a connecting flight which departs Europe from another airport. In this case, flying a short or medium range aircraft to reach a hub airport like Heathrow would be plausible.

They stopped at an intermediate airport to catch a connecting flight and still nobody noticed Kevin was missing? Absolute rubbish. The posting is absolutely correct.

This is a mistake on the trip home, by which point they already noticed Kevin was missing. They had a non-stop flight going there.

Nonsense. With a maximum fuel load, the DC9 had a range of 1450 nautical miles (2685 km). If they stopped to refuel at Shannon airport in Ireland - which is closer to New York than Heathrow - they would still have to fly 2878 nautical miles (5330 km) to reach New York. They are going for a very long swim.

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Kevin is leaving the church after talking to the old man that lives next door to him, he runs home. Between leaving the church and getting home he is wearing one pair of trousers, when he gets home he is wearing a pair of jeans, then when he is setting up the traps for the bad guys he is back to the first pair.

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Kevin prepares to ride his toboggan down the stairs, the front door changes position between shots from half open to completely open. (00:25:20)

Revealing mistake: Whenever Marv is outside walking in the snow in his bare feet you can tell that the feet aren't real.

Factual error: Kate flies American Airlines to Scranton, but that airline did not serve Scranton in 1990. Also, a DC-10 is too big to be serviced at Scranton.

AAL117

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Suggested correction: Air Force One, which is quite a bit larger than a DC-10, has landed at Scranton in the past (https://wnep.com/2013/08/22/air-force-one-lands-in-scranton/). Just because DC-10s don't generally land there doesn't mean they can't.

They are much more likely to make an exception for Air Force One than the are for a single family unless it was for something wrong with the flight or an emergency on the flight, not for a connecting flight to Chicago or a chance at a connecting flight.

ctown28

The idea is that DC-10s can land there for whatever reason.

The news article is from 2013. 23 years after the film. A lot of things can change in 23 years.

Ssiscool

Kate landed at Dallas first, then flew to Scranton. This is revealed in Kate's rant at the ticket agent.

Air Force One would park at GA parking, not at the terminal. The DC-10 that lands would have very likely parked at a gate for only 737s and smaller.

AAL117

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Joe Pesci places his hand on the red hot doorknob on the front door of Kevin's house, he places his hand on the doorknob sideways, but after he sticks his hand in the snow, he looks at his hand and the letter M that was burned into his hand is straight up and down, not sideways like it should be based on how he grabbed the doorknob.

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Kevin is shooting the BB gun at action figures he has lined up along the laundry chute, there is a baseball player figurine leaning against the side of the laundry chute. A few shots later, when Kevin begins shooting at the figurines, the baseball player figurine is no longer leaning against the laundry chute frame, instead standing unassisted.

Revealing mistake: The morning the McCallisters are rushing to get to the airport, the kid from across the street is bothering one of the van drivers. In the scene where the van driver says, "Gee, kid I dunno, hit the road," you can clearly see the kid mouthing the words as the man speaks. (00:14:00)

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Kevin is putting washing in and taking clothes out of the dryer, he places a bottle of Tide detergent on top of the washing machine with the handle facing away from the camera. Upon taking the clothes out of the drier and closing the door, he turns to see the furnace scaring him by saying "Kevin." When the camera faces Kevin again, the bottle of detergent is turned so that the handle faces the camera, and the cap is no longer fastened correctly.

Continuity mistake: Kevin goes out to cut the top off a tree to use as a Christmas tree. The tree top he drags in is much smaller than the one he decorates.

Home Alone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Kevin sits down with a meal before the Wet Bandits arrive at the house consisting of macaroni and cheese on a plate. When Harry eventually makes it to the dining room, he is pelted with feathers. Look at the table to the left. A three part microwave meal still in its white plastic container now sits on the plate.

Revealing mistake: When Kevin rides the rig on the rope to get to the treehouse, you can see that it was a stuntman who is much taller than Kevin and looks nothing like him.

Home Alone mistake picture

Character mistake: When Kevin is shooting the toys off the laundry chute with Buzz's BB gun, he's looking through the scope with his closed eye.

Factual error: When Kevin's mom stays behind at the Paris Airport to wait for a flight home, she is shown in a gate area in front of a huge picture window. Outside can be seen an aircraft, a 727 in Eastern Airlines livery, in what is actually Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Eastern never flew to Paris and the aircraft would not have the range for such a flight. Also, you can see a sign that lists Terminal E and F, which are at ORD. They do not have these at Paris ORY.

Jorge Suarez

Check-Out Woman: Are you here all by yourself?
Kevin McCallister: Ma'am, I'm eight years old. You think I would be here *alone*? I don't think so.

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Question: Why was Kevin's family so mean to him?

Answer: I think it was a way to make leaving him "home alone" more realistic and understandable as opposed to absurd. Being perceived as a brat/pest and annoying to be around, it is (somewhat) conceivable that none of the family members would be eager to have Kevin by their side. This "frees" all of them from noticing that Kevin isn't with them. Everyone would just assume that Kevin is somewhere among them and each be glad they didn't have to sit next to him on the way to the airport or during the long flight.

KeyZOid

In addition to this, the movie is partially about Kevin learning to have more respect for others. He appreciates his family more as he spends more time without them.

Answer: The ones who were mean just saw Kevin as a brat. However, it's not uncommon in situations of being in an overcrowded house to easily lose one's patience and temper and become frustrated with small, but irritating things; which seems to happen to his mother. Buzz just has that general big brother contempt for his kid brother, but obviously still loves him, along with everyone else in the family, at the end when he finds out Kevin is safe.

Bishop73

Nuts to that. They all could've tried a little harder, that's one lame excuse for treating someone like garbage and I come from a good sized bunch who've done the same to me. You also forget his uncle didn't care about him regardless of the situation.

Rob245

Like it or not the answer is perfectly valid. Families have different dynamics. Kevin is something of a brat (he calls his mother "dummy" and openly wishes he didn't have a family), as are his brothers and sisters, especially Buzz. I for one have TWO uncles in my family who behave just like the uncle in the movie. We don't invite them over, but we've had similar situations to what's depicted in the film.

Hey I've had three uncles, father's older brothers, he hated all three of them, cared only when they started dying. Yeah the dynamics and all, my mother has stated "You ruined this family" though this bunch didn't need my help in being messed up. My sympathies to you Mr Hoffman, your uncles Dustin and Philip Seymour must be/been terrible, just kidding only on the famous names there, no offense meant.

Rob245

It's just a movie! The characters are fictional and were given contrived, exaggerated, over-the-top personalities to fit the comedic plot. It's pointless to compare them to real-life family dynamics.

raywest

Exactly. It's done for entertainment.

Ssiscool

Also, it's a movie from a child's point of view. Kevin is supposed to be the "victim." As a 35-year-old, I have more sympathy for the adults and older kids. The movie is about Kevin learning to miss his family and be more considerate of others.

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