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.
this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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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
The mom figured out he was missing almost immediately, but then it was hard to get back because the airport was overloaded due to the holiday rush. That part would still apply today and cell phones donβt change it.
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Post-9/11 airport procedures would probably have changed things, though.
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Why would Kevin be the one contacting his mother? He thought he magically wished them away because he thought they hated him and treated him like scum. He never tries to contact them because he thinks they'd all just disappeared.
That's why his Christmas wish is to see his family again... even Buzz.
To be fair, he did go around the house calling "Mom, Dad?" If he had a phone before assuming he had wished them away he would probably try texting.
Good point
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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, Kevinβs mom frantically calls his phoneβ¦ only for a suitcase to start ringing. Oops!
Yes but they wouldnβt have slept in since their phonesβ alarms would still work, and they wouldnβt 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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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.
Cell towers go down along with fiber and coax.
No cell phones or internet in a modern home with no VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray. Kids don't know about broadcast television. Just that his Fortnite/Minecraft/Roblox doesn't work.
Family would come home to a feral child and a destroyed home after the kid goes batshit without supervision.
Idk man...if it happened with my youngest...it depends on which Nintendo Switch is still in the house and which one came on the plane.
If it's the "primary switch", he'd be fine without Internet. We could probably leave for like 2 days and we'd come back and he'd not even realize we were gone and say he was hungry (while surrounded by junk food wrappers).
If it wasn't...and the internet was out...Lord help us.
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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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Or Kevin is eight years old and his parents reasonably assume he is too young to have a cell phone.
Sadly I've seen toddlers glued to phones these days
Usually parents handing over thier phone to shut the kid up while adults are talking/shopping.
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So he calls the parents' cell phones from the house phone.
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Most movies from prior to 2010 would be drastically different if you included cell phones. Itβs 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.
you could still have the whole robin hood with modern day guns.
most stories can be adapted to different settings.
west side story is based on Romero and Juliet
the Matrix was heavily inspired by the jesus story
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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).
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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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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I don't think I've ever actually turned on airplane mode, even before widespread in-plane WiFi
I know OP says βwe just boardedβ, so there would be signal. But, as soon a the plane gains altitude, thereβs 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.
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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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This meme is so old that iPhone had physical home buttons.
One thing that critics of the movie got wrong (probably because they didn't watch the movie again in a while) is why didn't they call the police or call Kevin to go to a neighbor's place.
The reason is all there in the movie. A tree fell over and knocked over the phone cables, killing the phone connection. Also they DID call the police, but the police in this movie are highly inept jackasses who don't even realize that a string of burglaries is happening in the neighborhood by the Wet Bandits. They do send a cop over, who just knocks on the door for a bit and then leaves. Kevin does hear the knocking, but he is scared and hides beneath his bed. When the cops doesn't get a response, he doesn't bother further.
But yes, cell phones would change everything.
the plot hole could be patched by him waking up after the plane takes off
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.
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