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The annual Christmas debate

Home Alone.
Christmas film?

Yes. Home Alone is an essential Christmas film: it scores 88 out of 100 on our Festive Factor and 79 on Cosiness, ratified against our published rubric.

Yes, and it is the easiest case on this list, which is why it goes first. Take Christmas out of Home Alone and the plot goes with it: the family only leaves because it is Christmas, the house is only empty because everyone has gone away for it, and the ending only lands because it happens on Christmas morning.

Where it loses points is cosiness. There is snow on every street, a church on Christmas Eve and a boy eating a microwave dinner on his own, but there are also two burglars and a great deal of household injury. The rubric scores that honestly: very high on the Christmas, lower on the blanket.

It is also one of the films the rubric is calibrated against, so our answers are held to a pinned score. Change any you disagree with and watch the numbers move.

Sources

Updated 14 October 2026

That is our ruling. This is yours: what CineClaus readers say, counted as the votes come in.

Readers’ poll

Is Home Alone a Christmas film?

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Our answers. Your call.

Here is the working, line by line.

Our answers are loaded. Change any line you disagree with; the certificate keeps up. How the questions work. Rubric v1.3.

11 of 11 answers recorded · Question 1 of 11

Plot dependency · up to 30 points

Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive?

Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive?

An example certificate