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.
this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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A tree fell on some lines I think
He literally orders pizza on the phone at one point, then uses that black and white movie to scam the pizza guy.
I'm pretty sure there's a scene of the utility company working on the junction box.
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Quite a few classic movies would not be a thing if cell phones were in the universe at the time.
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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.
Except that the alarm got killed by the phone's battery optimizer. I am using a 2011 smartphone as an alarm because of this. But Poco and Ulefone are definitely not the highest quality brands.
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.
People miss notifications all the time, though, so some lack of communication can still be had.
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Or Kevin is eight years old and his parents reasonably assume he is too young to have a cell phone.
So he calls the parents' cell phones from the house phone.
The house phone that didn't work because the phone lines were down?
Oh yeah!
Get... THE FUCK.... outta here...!
*stares angrily*
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!
Yes but they wouldn’t have slept in since their phones’ alarms would still work, and they wouldn’t have forgotten Kevin.
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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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.
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).
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.
They would have missed their flight if the story played out today.
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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Remember that they were flying first class, today they would have inflight wifi, and looking at the messages, they have blue bubbles, meaning iMessage, which works over WiFi.
So they could get in touch, the mom could message a family friend to help out, and it would have been resolved easily.
Androids RCS and most apps also work over wifi.
I think I saw something about this where he could have called a local number but not through to the police station if it was further away.
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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I don't think I've ever actually turned on airplane mode, even before widespread in-plane WiFi
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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Some planes offer free wifi or free connection to messaging services now, so they could know before reaching their destination.
the plot hole could be patched by him waking up after the plane takes off
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.
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.
Like a tree knocks out the power to the cell tower
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.
That's how it starts, and after he picks up a charger at the store, then the tower is down!
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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
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