Home Alone

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

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: In the scene where Kevin is shooting the BB gun at action figures he has lined up along the laundry chute the baseball player figure he sets up is leaning against the left hand side of the laundry chute frame, yet when he begins to shoot at the figures the baseball player is standing up straight on its own and not leaning against the chute frame any longer.

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.

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 the orange bottle of liquid on top of the washer with the handle facing away. On taking the clothes out of the drier and closing the door, he turns to see the metal heater scaring him by saying "Kevin." Look over his left shoulder when the shot comes back to Kevin, the orange bottle now has it's handle facing outwards, and the top isn't on properly.

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.

Visible crew/equipment: When Kevin first realises he's home alone and goes into Buzz's room, there is the leg of a crew member to the bottom right of the picture (wearing jeans). (00:19:20)

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Suggested correction: Not visible at all.

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.

More quotes from Home Alone

Trivia: The infamous black and white movie was called "Angels with Filthy Souls." In "Home Alone 2," it was called "Angels with Filthier Souls" - it was a sequel, as was Home Alone 2.

William Bergquist

More trivia for Home Alone

Question: Maybe I missed it, but did the McAllisters even bother to call home? I don't remember them calling the house at all. Why wouldn't that be the first thing they do? Kevin seems to be pretty independent for his age. He might have not answered the door, but I'm sure he would have answered the phone.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: They did but the power and phone lines were down due to a tree branch that had fallen on them the night before the family left. A flight attendant on their plane mentions that attempts had been made to call the McAllisters' home but "the phones are still out of order".

Jeff Swanson

But how did he call the police at the end if the phone lines were down.

That was several days later. Clearly the phone lines were repaired over the course of the film.

The film takes place over 3 or 4 days.

Ssiscool

After the storm the lineman tells them the power has been restored but the phone lines are "a mess" and that it would take several days to get them fixed. They were out initially, and then in various stages of repair afterward.

Also explains calling for a pizza.

Ssiscool

It's ridiculous though that the phones are apparently working by the time they land (Kate's SIL calls everyone on their street). Yet none of them try the house again.

Answer: That is also how Kevin was able to order his cheese pizza from Little Nero's.

zredman

Answer: The phone lines were fixed by the end of the movie. Remember, this takes place over the course of several days.

Answer: It's also possible they don't think he's at the house still since the cops did attempt to stop by and see if he was home, but received no answer after ringing the bell. Or they did try to call and left a message, but Kevin may not have thought to check the phone messages if he was out of the house and didn't expect anyone to call. He also didn't want anyone to return until the day prior to Christmas, by which point the mom was already en route and the dad and remaining kids had a plan to come home on Christmas morning.

Answer: The next day, after the cop shows up to check the house, while the Wet Bandits are in the house next door, the phone rings and the answering machine picks up, allowing Peter to leave a message. If the next-door neighbor's phone is working, wouldn't it only make sense for Peter to immediately call his own house? Even if Kevin hasn't returned home from shoplifting a toothbrush and doesn't answer the phone, Peter should still be able to leave a message on an answering machine and most likely keep calling over and over until Kevin answers the phone.

More questions & answers from Home Alone

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