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submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 101 points 1 week ago

This is one case where I don't think the cell phone would drastically change the movie. He'd still be home alone dealing with the thieves as his mom worked her way back. He just wouldn't be in the dark as to why he is alone.

[-] [email protected] 60 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yeah, when he woke up he thought his wish for the family to disappear had come true. His mom still would have figured it out first while on the plane and tried to text him.

if she reached him it would ruin his mindset of being on his own, but there could have been an easy way to make him miss the text messages/calls for the same reason she couldn't call him in the movie.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

Like a tree knocks out the power to the cell tower

[-] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago

Or he, like me, just forgets to charge his phone, because he's, like, 8 years old, and they took the chargers with them, so now he CAN'T charge it.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago

That's how it starts, and after he picks up a charger at the store, then the tower is down!

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Or he broke his phone while exploring Buzz's room.

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

I read this as keven messaged before the flight took off unlike the movie where mum was already in the air when she twigged

Also her phone should have been on flight mode if already in the air

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

They're rich. She'd get texts in flight.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

The mom figured out he was missing almost immediately, but then it was hard to get back because the airport was overloaded due to the holiday rush. That part would still apply today and cell phones don’t change it.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Post-9/11 airport procedures would probably have changed things, though.

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[-] [email protected] 93 points 1 week ago

Why would Kevin be the one contacting his mother? He thought he magically wished them away because he thought they hated him and treated him like scum. He never tries to contact them because he thinks they'd all just disappeared.

That's why his Christmas wish is to see his family again... even Buzz.

[-] [email protected] 34 points 1 week ago

To be fair, he did go around the house calling "Mom, Dad?" If he had a phone before assuming he had wished them away he would probably try texting.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago
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[-] [email protected] 51 points 1 week ago

Kevin was in trouble at the start of the film. They could have very easily had his mom take his phone away before sending him to his room.

After arriving in Paris, Kevin’s mom frantically calls his phone… only for a suitcase to start ringing. Oops!

[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

Yes but they wouldn’t have slept in since their phones’ alarms would still work, and they wouldn’t have forgotten Kevin.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The mom uses location data to confirm everyone is in the same place, and everyone is too busy staring at their phones to notice anything. The entire movie is now an allegory for the risks of doomscrolling.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

They all were gifted bluetooth headsets for the trip, but the headsets never disconnect and the alarms went through the headsets which weren't loud enough.

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[-] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago

In Home Alone, didn't something take out the phone lines?

I'm sure "something" would happen in a modern version of Home Alone.

Most likely, the parents would be arrested when they got home.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

Cell towers go down along with fiber and coax.

No cell phones or internet in a modern home with no VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray. Kids don't know about broadcast television. Just that his Fortnite/Minecraft/Roblox doesn't work.

Family would come home to a feral child and a destroyed home after the kid goes batshit without supervision.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Idk man...if it happened with my youngest...it depends on which Nintendo Switch is still in the house and which one came on the plane.

If it's the "primary switch", he'd be fine without Internet. We could probably leave for like 2 days and we'd come back and he'd not even realize we were gone and say he was hungry (while surrounded by junk food wrappers).

If it wasn't...and the internet was out...Lord help us.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

A tree fell on some lines I think

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

He literally orders pizza on the phone at one point, then uses that black and white movie to scam the pizza guy.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

I'm pretty sure there's a scene of the utility company working on the junction box.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Home Alone: Final Destination

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[-] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago

Or Kevin is eight years old and his parents reasonably assume he is too young to have a cell phone.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Sadly I've seen toddlers glued to phones these days

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Usually parents handing over thier phone to shut the kid up while adults are talking/shopping.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

So he calls the parents' cell phones from the house phone.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago
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[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

The house phone that didn't work because the phone lines were down?

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[-] [email protected] 41 points 1 week ago

Most movies from prior to 2010 would be drastically different if you included cell phones. It’s like saying Robin Hood would be different if you gave him a gun. Technology changes the ways we resolve conflicts.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

People miss notifications all the time, though, so some lack of communication can still be had.

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[-] [email protected] 38 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don't buy it. Kevin wakes up after his parents are already on the plane, after they've been told to put their device in airplane mode, so they still wouldn't know until they touch down in Paris and turn their phones back on, to which everything else can be the same since they were stuck due to the weather.

He could however call the police. Only reason that wasn't possible in the movie was because the phone lines were down (despite showing Kevin ordering a pizza over the phone, ignoring the fact they specifically pointed out the phone line problem at the beginning of the film).

[-] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago

Didn't they show a repair crew fixing the lines between the outage at the beginning and when he orders pizza?

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Phones are irrelevant. No matter how rushed they are, and even though they'd probably have TSA PreCheck, they'd still be slowed down enough by post-911 security to count heads. And the very fact Kevin's not getting into trouble would be a red flag for Mom.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

They would have missed their flight if the story played out today.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Yep, no more reaching the airport at the last second and being hurried onto a plane.

"Sorry, you didn't show up two hours early - there's no way we're letting you on".

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

I don't think I've ever actually turned on airplane mode, even before widespread in-plane WiFi

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

I know OP says “we just boarded”, so there would be signal. But, as soon a the plane gains altitude, there’s no more signal.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Some planes offer free wifi or free connection to messaging services now, so they could know before reaching their destination.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Quite a few classic movies would not be a thing if cell phones were in the universe at the time.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Imagine if E.T. had a cell phone

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

This meme is so old that iPhone had physical home buttons.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

One thing that critics of the movie got wrong (probably because they didn't watch the movie again in a while) is why didn't they call the police or call Kevin to go to a neighbor's place.

The reason is all there in the movie. A tree fell over and knocked over the phone cables, killing the phone connection. Also they DID call the police, but the police in this movie are highly inept jackasses who don't even realize that a string of burglaries is happening in the neighborhood by the Wet Bandits. They do send a cop over, who just knocks on the door for a bit and then leaves. Kevin does hear the knocking, but he is scared and hides beneath his bed. When the cops doesn't get a response, he doesn't bother further.

But yes, cell phones would change everything.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Who tf holds a phone like that?

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

the plot hole could be patched by him waking up after the plane takes off

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I know they are rich and all, but I wouldn't give an 8 year old a cell phone. With homes as they are today there probably wouldn't be a land line. The movie is mostly the same, some of the boobie traps are slightly different is all.

I suppose once they get off the plane and turn off airplane mode they will get a doorbell notification about someone at the door and see it is Kevin looking around. Still the same though, can even have this be the moment they realize they left him behind.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You don't get it, Home Alone is a prequel to Damian and The Omen movies. Kevin was trying to kill people, and the movie is about how his joy made him susceptible to human feelings. He's like a failed demonic creature who couldn't handle earths pleasures. It's a commentary on Virgil.

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this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
795 points (97.8% liked)

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