Question: If they're spies then why are the four shown being booked in regular jail? Why aren't they in a federal prison?
Answer: There are two possible explanations: 1) Because there is far less space available in federal prisons, compared to state and local facilities, federal prisoners and arrestees are often kept in local facilities. 2) Because the federal charges or providing support for terrorism and industrial espionage are harder to prove compared to the state-level charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery, and attempted murder.
It's doubtful the writers had all that in mind when writing a comedy holiday script. The plot simply calls for the spies to be caught and thrown into jail at the end of the story. There is also a difference between prison and jail. Prison is for those convicted of a crime. Jail is a temporary holding place after an arrest is made. With police being involved in the arrest, the spies would initially be booked and held in the local jail. The spies would later be transferred to federal custody to await trial.
Question: Why does Alex's House have an elevator/dumb waiter? I've never heard of a house having any type of elevator or dumb waiter.
Answer: Many older, larger homes were originally built by wealthy owners and it is not uncommon for these homes to have an elevator or dumbwaiter for the help's use. Even though it is rare for a homeowner to have a butler today, many of these older homes still find use for the dumbwaiter/elevator the butler would have used.
Question: Why doesn't the FBI call at Alex's house when learning that he got the chip?
Answer: Imagine getting a phone call from the F.B.I. saying your son is in possession of a computer chip wanted by a group of international thieves and a terrorist cell. You either think it was from a crank call or a nutcase. Either way you'd be leaving in fear. Plus the F.B.I. didn't know the circumstances of how the kid got the chip. They may believe the kid stumbled upon it or the family was involved.
Answer: Because it's just a movie, it's a comedy, and the filmmakers are not concerned with exact, realistic details. They expect the audience to just enjoy the silliness and not be overly concerned about reality. The two other Home Alone films employed similar "suspension of disbelief" in the plots.
raywest ★
Exactly like what happened to the guy that gave them the chip. Wouldn't he be arrested too, but we don't hear anything about what happened to him. I'm assuming since he had a plan to catch he was going somewhere he can't be extradited.
The guy who hired Beaupre and his team was in China the whole time, so he couldn't be extradited to America since China has no extradition treaty with America.