Selected cast credits · Film reference
Ebert’s half-star review is noted as an unprecedented low in the show’s run, and his anger at the film’s premise is contrasted with Siskel’s response.
Mr. Highway is one participant’s favorite, Henry threatening Susan and Mark attacking him is another, and the cliff battle is praised as an elite finale. The treehouse-to-well progression, dog encounter and killing, therapist conversations, Connie on the ice, Susan finding the duck, Mark’s shiv, and Henry’s therapist ambush are additional choices.
The film’s willingness to cast two exceptional child actors against each other is praised.
The children freely wrecking an abandoned building is remembered fondly but treated as belonging to another era. The adults’ failure to recognize Henry’s danger and the neglected trauma around the family are criticized.
The adults are selected for implausible behavior, and the cast is judged one compelling adult performer short.
Susan’s Choice is proposed; a joking streaming title built around Henry killing his brother is also offered.
The cliff geography and images of the boys moving through the Maine landscape are discussed as the movie’s visual strength.
Quinn Culkin is jokingly given an underacting award rather than an overacting award.
Macaulay Culkin’s work is proposed as his greatest performance. The movie is argued to require two unusually gifted child actors in order to function.
An abandoned 1988 version with Michael Klesic as Henry and Jesse Bradford, with Mary Steenburgen as the mother, is discussed.
Daniel Hugh Kelly and the therapist performer are debated as That Guy candidates.
Connie’s drowning is identified as the exact moment when Henry’s evil becomes unmistakable because he only pretends to reach for her.
Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone-era bankability is selected as his Apex; Elijah Wood and David Morse receive separate career discussions.
The panel finds the adult roles too thin for a confident Cruise-or-Hanks choice.
A soccer scene exists, but the panel imagines hockey or football as a better outlet for Henry’s aggression.
The investigation of Richard’s death and the adults’ delayed arrival at the cliff are challenged.
An eight-episode prestige series is proposed, though the panel worries Henry’s repeated crimes would become impossible to ignore.
Macaulay Culkin is the sole Oscar choice.
The panel imagines the family’s explanation the next day and questions Mark leaving the devastated Maine household.
Mr. Highway is the preferred piece of memorabilia.
Henry’s line that realizing you can do anything makes you free is selected as the film’s dark life lesson.
Mikey and The Bad Seed are distinct choices; Home Alone is discussed as a thematic pairing.
Macaulay Culkin wins the movie as the central performance, while Kit Culkin is separately selected for forcing the production into existence; Elijah Wood is acknowledged as a credible alternative.
The movie’s extreme violence and many logical gaps are said to create unusually high unintentional comedy.
