Home Alone Has The Funniest Scene In Christmas Movie History

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Home Alone is a great comedy and will absolutely be making my Top 100 Movies of The 1990's list. It's right there with Scrooged, Elf and Christmas Vacation as the funniest Christmas movies of all-time. I know most people find the Wet Bandits stuff to be the best part of the movie but to me, it's the set-up and delivery of the "Keep the change, ya filthy animal!" bit to be not only the most hilarious segment, but the funniest part of any Christmas movie.

The payoff is the best part but how this is set up is also brilliant. We get introduced to the Little Nero's pizza guy in this scene and it establishes him hitting the statue in the yard. I love how Chris Columbus directs the family scene in the kitchen. There is a ton of moving part but it's organized enough to get Fuller not taking it easy on the Pepsi and both Uncle Frank and Buzz being assholes to Kevin.

John Hughes wrote Home Alone so with his background (The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's Vacation), it's not a surprise that Home Alone is as funny as it is. But Columbus should get more credit for being a major part of some of the funnier movies of the late 80's and early 90's. He wrote Gremlins (another great Christmas movie) and The Goonies before becoming a director. Even as a director, he helmed Adventures In Babysitting as well as Mrs. Doubtfire. He changed course and got away from comedies this century and wound up directing the first two Harry Potter movies. He also has a special place in the hearts of Kirk Minihane Show listeners as he directed Bicentennial Man.

On it's own, this seems like an extraordinarily long time to watch a movie where someone is watching a movie. But it's shot well enough and the lines are just odd enough where you remember the dialogue without even being totally aware that you are. Of course, all of that leads to what I think I the funniest scene in Christmas movie history:

Macaulay Culkin was obviously brilliant in Home Alone and is right there with Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense as the best child actors in any movie. But I had no idea that the pizza guy was played by an actor named Dan Charles Zukowski who is probably best known as Irwin in Saved By The Bell. He appeared as an uncredited extra in a number of interesting movies: Jackie Brown, The Color Of Money, Backdraft, Doc Hollywood and two Star Trek movies.

I know some people love Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. I think it's just a photocopy of the original. It re-hashes the great jokes of the first movie so I rarely go back to watch it. The original Home Alone however works so well for the holidays. You can put it on and it hits for any member of your family. Much like The Goonies, it doesn't matter how old you are. Home Alone is always funny.