BELOW AVERAGE

When their parents leave the house to go Christmas shopping, 10-year-old Finn Baxter (Christian Martyn) and his older sister (Jodelle Ferland) are left home alone… and a group of thieves see their chance.

After a decade-long break, the franchise was brought back with a fifth installment that flirts heavily with the original. As in the last two movies, the new kid lacks real charisma and the mayhem takes forever to get started.

Malcolm McDowell is wasted, but at least the kid next door (who’s obsessed with snow) is cute.

2012-U.S. 87 min. Color. Directed by Peter Hewitt. Cast: Christian Martyn (Finn Baxter), Jodelle Ferland (Alexis Baxter), Malcolm McDowell (Sinclair), Debi Mazar, Eddie Steeples, Ellie Harvie, Edward Asner.

Trivia: Followed by a VOD film, Home Sweet Home Alone (2021).