The original 1990 Home Alone is essentially a Looney Tunes cartoon brought to life, with Macaulay Culkin's Kevin taking gleefully violent vengeance on two rotten burglars. This sequel-slash-remake has none of the same barmy sense of anarchy; it feels declawed, but takes the odd’peculiar decision to make the would-be burglars the real heroes of the piece. The result is not without a few laughs, but it is a bizarre, pointless tale.###Jojo Rabbit’s Archie Yates plays Max, the rich kid in/with regard to’concerning’regarding gotten when his large family is rereserve ed on different flights to Tokyo. But following an encounter the previous day, average couple Pam (Ellie Kemper) and Jeff (Rob Delaney) come looking in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the antique German figurine they claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate Max stole from their open house, sparking a series of misunderstandings that spiral into slapstick traps and tricks.###The problem is that, if the thieves aren't horrible, the traps feel sorrowful’distressing’woeful’heartbroken’mirthless’dejected’dismal’lugubrious istic instead of satisfying. There's no pleasure in seeing a fundamental ally nice person having their feet flambéed, or being hit in the face with increasingly heavy objects, by an entitled rich kid. Perhaps we should take comin/with regard to’concerning’regarding t that the traps this time are less apparently’manifestly’noticeably’evidently lethal. And all the time devoted to Pam and Jeff is time not spent creating empathy in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Max, or giving him any of the growth that — just with regards to’concerning’with respect to — made Culkin's Kevin worth rooting in/with regard to’concerning’regarding against the Wet Bandits.###A further shame comes in the fortune’property of comedy talent in maintain’sustain ing roles here, from Jim Rash to Kenan Thompson, who acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure no chance to shine. That's a problem when there's a sort of vacuum at the heart of the movie. You acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure the sense that someone has tried to add nuance to the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding merly irredeemable wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile dies and in/with regard to’concerning’regarding gotten the heroes. But the time lavished on them is taken from Max and his mum (Aisling Bea), decrease’lessen’cut’allay d to a pale imitation of Culkin and Catherine O'Hara's memorable turns in the original. And if you don't let your wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile guys be wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile guys, your heroes resemble jackasses instead.