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Movie · Comedy · 1990 · PG

Home Alone: parents' guide

8+our pick

Best for ages 8 and up. Rated PG.

A slapstick family comedy that most grade-schoolers love, with a few things worth knowing first. Eight-year-old Kevin is accidentally left behind when his family flies to Paris for Christmas, and he defends the house against two burglars with elaborate booby traps. The pain is played for laughs but shown in detail, including burns, a nail through a foot, and blows to the head, and the burglars threaten Kevin with grisly harm. Language includes one s-word and 'bitch.' Kevin's family is often mean to him, and a neighbor rumored to be a killer turns out to be kind.

What's in it

Violence

Moderate

Frequent slapstick in the last act: burglars are hit with an iron and paint cans, set alight with a blowtorch, burned by a red-hot doorknob, and step on a nail. Kevin also watches an old gangster film with a machine-gun killing.

Language

Moderate

One s-word, plus 'bitch,' 'damn,' 'hell,' 'crap,' 'ass,' and 'horse's ass.' Family members trade insults such as 'jerk,' 'disease,' and 'puke,' and God's name is misused once.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Kevin finds an old Playboy in his brother's room and remarks on it, with no nudity shown. A teen cousin wonders about nude beaches in France, Buzz has bikini posters, and adults kiss.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Mild

Light. Adults drink champagne on the plane, a street Santa smokes a cigarette, and some background characters drink and smoke. There is no drug use.

Scary or intense scenes

Moderate

Kevin fears the growling basement furnace and a neighbor his brother calls a murderer. The burglars stalk him, threaten to bite off his fingers, and briefly catch him and hang him on a door.

Worth talking about

Kevin's traps would badly injure real people; talk about why on-screen pain can seem funny, and what a child should really do if left alone or approached by a stranger.

Where to stream →

On our lists

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Checked October 24th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, childrenandmedia.org.au, bbfc.co.uk. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.