Home Alone

Home Alone (1990)

10 suggested corrections

(44 votes)

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

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.

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.

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

Stupidity: When a cop goes to Kevin's house after being requested by police, he simply knocks on the door and after a few seconds walks away assuming no ones home. Had he actually bothered to announce himself as a cop, Kevin would have opened the door and he would have been found safe.

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Suggested correction: Some people just aren't good at their job or are too lazy. The cop didn't like the idea of being sent on a possible fake call and didn't put in the extra effort. Or he was simply waiting for someone to ask who it was before identifying himself. Plus the cop would have had no idea Kevin was hiding and not answering the door because he was scared nor that saying he was the police would get him to answer the door, he could have simply thought a kid left alone would answer the door to anyone.

Bishop73

Even if he thought it was a fake call, he still should have identified himself. By doing this, he could have confirmed that Kevin was indeed left alone.

And the script could have been written a 100 different ways to prevent Kevin from being left home alone, but that doesn't mean there's a plot hole or movie mistake.

Bishop73

Creating series of silly explanations for obvious mistakes/plotholes never resolves them. He should have identified himself regardless of the circumstances.

Exactly.

Perhaps the officer's failure to identify himself (as well as other deficiencies in the way he responded to the call) would more accurately be classified as a "character mistake"? This may result in fewer criticisms (corrections) while not negating the "stupidity."

KeyZOid

Maybe it should be. Because he acted much too unprofessionally for a police officer.

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.

Continuity mistake: When Kevin is hiding in the nativity set, you can see him on the right, just covered in the green robe. When it changes to the close up shot, he's now holding a shepherd's staff, which would have been visible in the previous shot.

Bishop73

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Suggested correction: There is a staff but it's hard to see. If you squint a little, you will see it.

Kitty1019

Then you're seeing something else because it would be easy to spot and there's nothing there.

Bishop73

Kevin is definitely holding the staff in all shots, you can see the curved head of the staff against the background.

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Suggested correction: He does move his fingers while playing his clarinet.

AAL117

Other mistake: When Gus Polinski talks about his music, he mispronounces "Daj mi buzi" (Die-Me-Boo-Gee) as "Domavougi." "Daj mi buzi" is Polish for "Give Me a Kiss."

AAL117

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Suggested correction: I think this is meant to be a "deliberate mistake ", which didn't show up as an option to suggest making the change elsewhere (under "edit"). It appears to be part of the comedy - he should know how to pronounce it. Another opinion would be helpful.

KeyZOid

Continuity mistake: When Frank squishes Fuller with the chair, we see Frank walk off. However about 5 seconds later we see Frank's wife rescue Fuller, and Frank walks off again. (00:09:35)

Ssiscool

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Suggested correction: Not a mistake. Frank never walks off the first time.

Perhaps the wrong phrase was used. He actually moves away from the front part of the seat to the left and out of shot of the camera. When the shot is shown of Frank's wife rescuing fuller, Frank repeats his actions of walking away from the front part of the seat and moving to his left. There is no reasonable reason he would move back in front of the chair for the purpose of repeating this action. Especially since his wife is trying to rescue Fuller and would not permit Frank to return to his original position. So the mistake is valid, just an error in wording.

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)

More mistakes in Home Alone

Kevin McCallister: This is extremely important. Will you please tell Santa that instead of presents this year, I just want my family back. No toys, nothing but Peter, Kate, Buzz, Megan, Linnie, and Jeff. And my aunt and my cousins. And if he has time, my Uncle Frank. Okay?

More quotes from Home Alone
Home Alone trivia picture

Trivia: When Kevin is in Buzz's bedroom, he finds in the box a picture of Buzz's girlfriend. This is actually a picture of the art director's son dressed up to look like a girl, because the director, Chris Columbus, thought it would be too harsh to make fun of a girl like that.

More trivia for Home Alone

Question: If Old Man Marley is actually a nice man (and not a "shovel slayer" as Buzz claims) then why does he always give Kevin that cold, creepy stare? After Kevin ran away the first time wouldn't he want to talk to Kevin the next time, to assure him that everything is okay?

Answer: Because he's understandably angry that Kevin's so unreasonably scared of him and assumes the worst in him without even getting a chance to know him. He never gets a chance to talk to him, because he always runs away too quickly. The first time he gives him that stare was when Kevin was watching him shovel from the window. Nobody would like to be stared at like that while doing a simple task.

MikeH

Answer: Marley appears that way mostly because the audience sees him from Kevin's point of view. Marley is miserable and sad because he is estranged from his family, but we see him as a crotchety, unpleasant person because that is what Kevin believes. Buzz had tainted Kevin's opinion of him by spreading the false stories that a gullible Kevin believed were true.

raywest

More questions & answers from Home Alone

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