Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

"Home Alone 2" is the 1992 sequel to the original massive 1990-91 box office hit "Home Alone;" and like the original movie, this film took in many times the amount it cost to make it. Also like with the original movie; and indeed, comedies in general, you have to turn down your "reality gauge" more than a little, and just relax and enjoy the movie, instead of being hypersensitive to things that don't always make sense. There is a discrepancy, for instance, over Kevin's age and the time line of the film. In the original movie, Kevin was 8 years old. In this movie, Kevin is 10 years old, but there are references to the events of the original movie having taken place one year before. It's my understanding that this movie began filming about a year after the release of the original film, but that doesn't explain the discrepancy, but it's not really all that important. For those who saw this movie when it was first released to theaters, just to give you some perspective on how time goes so quickly, Macaulay Culkin turned 40 years old this past summer (August 2020), and John Heard, who played his father, died in 2017, age 71.      

 

Main Cast: 

 

Macaulay Culkin as 10 year old Kevin McCallister

Joe Pesci as Harry

Daniel Stern as Marv

Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister, Kevin's mom

John Heard as Peter McCallister, Kevin's father

Tim Curry as Mr. Hector, the concierge of the hotel

Rob Schneider as Cedric, the bellman at the hotel

Brenda Fricker as the Pigeon Lady of Central Park

Eddie Bracken as Mr. Duncan, the owner of the toy store

Ralph Foody as a gangster in a film Kevin likes

Dana Ivey as the check-in clerk

 

The story opens, as in the original movie, with lots of activity at the McCallister home in suburban Chicago as the Christmas holiday approaches, but this time, the family is flying to Florida, an idea that Kevin finds unacceptable, because he and the others will be away from a real Christmas tree. Peter, Kevin's father, accidentally disconnects the alarm clock when he unplugs a battery charger; so, keep this in mind. The family is also going to a Christmas pageant at the local school the evening before their trip to Florida, and the McCallister children will sing in the chorus, with Kevin scheduled to sing a solo. During Kevin's solo, his older brother, Buzz, gets the audience laughing at Kevin as Buzz does things right behind Kevin's back. This leads Kevin to shove Buzz and he the chorus members fall from the riser where they've been stationed for the performance. Afterwards at home, Buzz gives a phony apology to the entire family and then challenges Kevin to beat his performance, but this last is out of earshot of everyone else. Kevin refuses to apologize and insults his uncle (his dad's brother) by calling him a cheapskate, which he is (Peter has good income and his brother and his brother's wife and kids benefit from it, including by going on the vacations that are paid for by Peter). Kevin is sent to the attic and it seems we're being led down the same path that took place in the original movie, which seems confirmed when the family oversleeps because Peter unpluged the alarm clock by mistake earlier. (Comment: Obviously this is one of those things that doesn't make sense, as this family has a BIG beautiful house, a couple of cars and lots of nice and modern appliances and furniture, but I guess they can only afford one alarm clock. I'm tellin' ya, life's tough!) We learn from a windblown newspaper, that Harry and Marv have escaped from prison during a prison riot. (Comment: For those who didn't see the original movie, Harry and Marv were the crooks who sought to rob the McCallister home while the family was in Paris, but initially they didn't know Kevin was still in the house. The bungling robbers had their hands full with Kevin, and they ended up being taken off to jail.) Anyway, the next morning, the airport transportation service arrives and the doorbell rings, but the family is still asleep. They all have to rush to get ready and get to the airport for their plane to Florida, and yes, Kevin is present. We learn that the family members will not all be sitting together, which makes sense, because there are so many of them. Once at the airport, Kevin wants batteries for his portable recorder, which are in his dad's travel bag, along with lots of cash. Since Kevin wants the batteries, his dad lets him carry the bag as they all rush to get their plane. As Kevin stops briefly to load the batteries into the recorder, the family runs well ahead of him, and a man wearing the same type coat as his dad enters into the crowd of people and runs to catch his plane, making Kevin think he still has his dad in sight. The thing is, his dad and the rest of the family have turned off for the gate with the plane for Florida, while the man Kevin is following is hurrying to get a plane to New York City.

 

Kevin bumps into the flight attendant, knocking the boarding passes out of her hand, including his own pass. Kevin explains that his family is on this flight and that his dad just got on, so the attendant goes with Kevin onto the plane. Kevin points to the man he thinks is his dad and the attendant is satisfied and she tells Kevin to find a seat in another part of the plane, as there are no seats by his "dad." (Comment: Just to clarify, when Kevin bumped into the flight attendant, his boarding pass got mixed up in all of the other passes knocked from the flight attendant's hand.) Kevin sits down next to a man and tries to start a conversation, but the man speaks French, and Kevin puts on his headphones to drown out the man's incessant chatter. (Comment: They didn't even translate what the guy was saying in subtitles. Maybe they were afraid Kevin would read them.) With headphones on, Kevin can't hear the flight attendant announce that the plane is bound for New York City. So later, the plane lands in New York and Kevin can't find any member of his family. He asks a lady at the information counter which city this is, and she tells him it's New York City. Kevin knows he's messed up. At first, Kevin is scared, but then he realizes he's in New York City and away from his family; so, off he goes to explore the Big Apple. Meanwhile, in Florida the family's plane lands and they all go to pick up their baggage, but when Kevin's bag is handed around, they now realize Kevin is not there! Peter and Kate report their missing son to airport security, but they make a terrible impression by cracking that such a situation has happened before, because they forgot Kevin at home on a vacation trip, so this is the second time Kevin has been missing, "but we never lose our luggage." They laugh, but the security officer isn't amused, and he tells the couple security will contact the police in Chicago to see if the boy is still there.

 

In the meantime, Harry and Marv arrive in New York City as stowaways in a seafood truck. The two crooks begin to look for a place to rob. Kevin tours part of the city, but when he goes to Central Park, he's frightened by the sight of a rather shabbily dressed woman covered with pigeons, and he runs off. (Comment: If she's covered with pigeons, is she also be covered by what pigeons leave behind, and I'm not talking feathers?) As Kevin crosses a street, Harry and Marv pass by, and at first Harry thinks he recognizes something about Kevin, but he then moves on and Kevin doesn't see the two crooks. He goes to the Park Plaza Hotel where he uses his recorder to record a message reserving a room by telephone, and when it plays back, he slows the speed to disguise his voice. He calls the hotel 800 number on a payphone and reserves a room, then a little later he goes to the reservation desk where he checks in. Because he has his dad's carry on bag, he has his dad's money and wallet, which has his dad's credit cards in it. He presents a credit card, telling the clerk his dad is in a business meeting and that he dropped him off at the hotel. The clerk makes an impression of the credit card info (the procerdure back then, with carbon copies), and she tells Kevin his dad will have to sign some papers. Not far away, the concierge is suspicious, but he sends the bellman to take Kevin to the room. After Kevin checks out the room, the bellman waits for his tip, and Kevin hands him a piece of chewing gum. Meanwhile in Florida, the security officer hears there is no sign of Kevin in Chicago, so he asks for a recent picture of the boy, but when his dad reaches for his wallet, it's not in his pocket, and he realizes Kevin has his money and credit cards. 

 

Kevin uses the hotel indoor swimming pool and he then proceeds to enjoy some time in the hotel room, including a room service waiter to make to serve him dishes of all kinds of ice cream. All the while Kevin watches a gangster movie video on the room's VCR with the same leading gangster character from the original movie, only this time, the gangster is in a dispute with his girlfriend and he takes out a Tommy gun, and as in the original movie, he uses it. A little later the concierge, who had been suspicious of Kevin in the hotel lobby, knocks at the door and pretends to be with housekeeping. Kevin runs into the bathroom and sets up a large inflatable clown in the shower (it had been given to him as a gift to use at the beach in Florida), and then he gets his tape recorder from when his uncle was singing in the shower (I didn't cover this earlier, but prior to going to the Christmas show at the school, Kevin needed his tie, but it was in the bathroom where his uncle was in the shower and singing too. Kevin recorded his uncle, who then saw Kevin and yelled, "Get out of here you nosy little pervert or I'm going to slap you silly.") The concierge hears the singing in the bathroom and he decides to peek in. When he does, through the shower curtain he sees the shadow of who he thinks is Mr. McCallister, but then comes the part about the "nosy little pervert," and the concierge runs through the suite to get out (keep this scene in mind for later). Kevin hasn't been found out yet. Meanwhile in Florida, it's pouring down rain! 

 

Kevin looks at a picture of his family from his dad's wallet and he begins to miss them. The next morning, the day before Christmas, Kevin's arranged for the htoel to get a limo for him to see the city. The concierge wants Kevin to explain his intrusion into the bathroom the night before, and Kevin plays it all well, but the suspicious concierge gets the credit card information out. He puts the numbers into the device and across the top comes "STOLEN." He's happy. Kevin is out and about in the limo and he has the driver take him to a toy store, "Duncan's Toy Chest." Inside, Kevin buys a few things and he goes to pay for them. The kindly older man at the cash register chats with Kevin. It's Mr. Duncan, but Kevin doesn't know that at first. During their chat Mr. Duncan tells Kevin that the store owner is going to donate all the money taken in for the day to the Children's Hospital. Kevin is so impressed, he takes $20 from his dad's money and donates it for the hospital. This brings Mr. Duncan to give Kevin two turtledove decorations from one of the store's Christmas trees. He tells Kevin he'll need to keep one and to give the other one to someone special, and that then the two will be friends forever. Kevin leaves, but there's no limo waiting outside (undoubtedly recalled because of the credit card being stolen). While Kevin had been in the limo, Harry and Marv see an ad for "Duncan's Toy Chest," and they decide it would be a good place to rob that night, Christmas Eve. They go to the toystore to check it out and develop a plan. They are in the store at the same time as Kevin, but it's only when Kevin and the two crooks go outside that Harry and Marv see and recognize Kevin. When Kevin turns around and sees the two bungling robbers, he screams, which brings looks from all over the street, making Harry and Marv hesitate to do anything to Kevin, and it gives the boy a chance to run off through the New York City traffic, but with the two prison escapees following not too far behind. A street peddler is shouting out his deal for bead necklaces (fake pearls) and Kevin quickly pays the man and gets some necklaces. He runs across another street as Harry and Marv begin to cross the street after him. Kevin starts breaking the bands holding the beads on the necklaces, which sends a multitude of beads all over the sidewalk. As Harry and Marv charge across to the sidewalk, they step on the beads ...WHOOPS! Down they go, flat on their backs. The thing is, as Kevin approaches the hotel, the concierge is outside and sees Kevin coming. This brings a big grin to his face, and when he stops Kevin, he grabs the credit card from Kevin's pocket and tells Kevin that it's been reported as stolen. The concierge thinks he now has Kevin, or does he? Kevin runs past the concierge and into the hotel and he is able to get to the elevator in spite of the bellman and the front desk clerk. 

 

Kevin gets to the room and grabs some snacks and his dad's travel bag and prepares to leave, but into the room come the concierge, the bellman, the desk clerk and two other hotel employees. Kevin picks up the video remote control and starts playing the scenes from the gangster movie (if you've never seen the movie, this scene is hilarious, but it's too involved to try to explain here). In the gangster film, the gangster argues with his girlfriend, but the concierge thinks this is Mr. McCallister yelling at him for being in the room the night before (Hey, I told you to keep that scene of the concierge entering the room in mind). The gangster says "you were smooching with my brother," and the whole crew sort of gasps, and the concierge doesn't know what to say. There's more, but tough to explain, so you have to watch it. Eventually in the film, the gangster tells the girlfriend to get down on her knees "and tell me you love me." The concierge and the other personnel get down on their knees trying their darndest to convince the guy they love him! hahahaha The gangster takes out the Tommy gun and threatens to open fire, bringing the hotel crew to dash for the door just before the sound of shots ring out. They crawl along the hallway floor as the shots continue, and as guests peek from their rooms to see what all of the commotion is about. Kevin sneaks out and uses the stairs to get out of the hotel, but when Kevin exits the door at the rear of the building, Harry and Marv are right there and they nab him, and tear up his plane ticket. Marv is a talker and he blabs out the two crooks' plans to rob Mr. Duncan's toystore at midnight. While Harry tells Marv to shut up, they don't know it, but Kevin has switched on the recorder in his pocket and it records everything that's been said (keep this in mind). Harry and Marv want to get Kevin to the subway and Harry tells the boy he has a gun in his pocket. When the three stop at a corner to wait for the traffic light to change, Kevin reaches over and pinches the "behind" of a young lady in front of them. When she turns around, she assumes Marv did it, and she punches him, knocking him to the ground, but Kevin points to Harry and says he did it, so she slugs him too. Kevin races off. Harry and Marv decide to give up on catching Kevin. 

In Miami, the rain continues, and the McCallister family is stuck in their hotel watching "It's A Wonderful Life," in Spanish! (Hey, it's Miami). The police call and tell them Kevin is in New York City, so the family prepares to fly to New York. Peter wonders if Kevin might try to contact Peter's brother who lives in New York, but the brother and his family are in Paris vacationing, and their house is under renovation while they're gone. (Comment: Hey, this whole family's got some bucks! Just call me "Kevin.") Kevin has his uncle's address from his dad's address book in his travel bag, so he goes to the house, but he sees it's under renovation and that no one is even there. As he walks through Central Park alone, Kevin sees the rough side of life for many people, they're homeless and mentally ill. He finally stops to eat a couple cookies he took from the hotel room before leaving, but a pigeon lands right by him as Kevin prepares to eat. He crumbles some of the cookie and holds it out, and the pigeon starts to eat. Then another pigeon lands and starts to eat, then another and another, until the cookies are gone, but the pigeons are happy. (Comment: I guess that's how the cookie crumbles.) From behind a rock, the head of the "Pigeon Woman" emerges (the woman covered in pigeons from not long after Kevin arrived in New York City). Kevin screams and tries to run, but his foot gets caught between some rocks. The woman comes closer and Kevin screams again, but she bends down and frees his foot from between the rocks. Kevin runs, but then he stops. He turns around and starts talking to the woman who just helped him. She is very soft spoken, and when Kevin asks why the pigeons come to her, she gives him some seed to throw into the air. When it hits the ground, dozens of pigeons swarm in and land to eat the seed. Kevin asks the woman if she'd like to get some hot chocolate and she agrees; off they go. The woman takes Kevin to a dusty, secluded attic-like room above Carnegie Hall. The two talk some more and Kevin finds out the woman was once in love, but the man left her and broke her heart. Kevin encourages her to talk to more people and to trust others. (Comment: While such things never go out of style, it's important to understand that when the movie was filmed, many people were going through rough economic times, and "downsizing" was the mantra of the business world. Quite a number of people had had decent jobs, but they were cut from payrolls, sometimes to help a business to survive, and sometimes to just make more money for already wealthy owners and investors. I can't tell you how many people, but a number of people who lost the decent jobs were left taking jobs with far less income or benefits, like health insurance. There was serious homelessness; and thus, serious emotional stress on many, bringing with it mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse. Along with these things came panhandling, including aggressive panhandling by some, and robberies to survive, or to also support addictions. The Pigeon Lady represents a segment of the people who felt left behind (also true today) and she tells Kevin how some people don't want people like her to be a part of "their city." Kevin tells her people don't always forget about others intentionally, they sometimes need to be reminded.) Kevin tells the woman he thinks being alone would be more fun, but then, when he IS alone, it's not fun, and that he'd rather be around people. He tells the woman he's done some bad things, and she tells him that a good deed erases a bad deed and that he should think of a good deed to do. Kevin and the woman part and they wish each other a merry Christmas. As Kevin walks along a thought comes to him and he runs back to his uncle's house and gets inside by climbing up the debris chute. He finds lots of tools and materials from the ongoing renovation work and he starts working on traps for the crooks. 

 

Meanwhile the McCallisters arrive at the hotel and confront the concierge and staff for letting a child check in to a hotel alone. Kate decides she wants to go out looking for Kevin while Peter goes to the police station to check on what they're doing to find Kevin. The clock strikes midnight and the guard at the toystore building locks the door. Harry and Marv have been hiding inside waiting for this moment. Harry finds the cash register full of money and Marv pries open a chest used for donations for the children's hospital; it's full of money! The two have struck it rich when Kevin peeks in and taps on the window. When the crooks look at Kevin, he snaps their picture and then he throws a rock through the window with a note on it. The broken window sets off the alarm and Harry and Marv take out after Kevin. As Kevin runs toward his uncle's house, Kate is already there, but finds no one there, so she gets into a taxi and leaves, just as Kevin gets to the house, with Harry and Marv a little distance behind. Kevin climbs up through the debris chute again and heads up to the roof. When he looks down, there are Harry and Marv who try to make a deal with him to give up the camera with their picture stealing the money in the toyshop. They ask the boy to just throw the camera down, and Kevin agrees, except he throws down a brick, not the camera. Marv is struck and falls to the ground. When Harry challenges Kevin to throw another brink, he does, and Marv is hit again, then again, and one more time. While Harry goes around to the back, Marv tries to enter through the front door, but when he grabs the door knob and pulls, Kevin has a rope tied to a large staple gun. When the rope is pulled tight, it will pull the trigger, firing a staple through the opening left by the doorknob. Marv struggles at pulling the rope, so he turns around, putting his backside up against the door, and pulls on the rope. BAM! The staple attaches the rope right to his butt, so when he turns around, it tightens the rope again and fires another staple into him, causing him to drop to his knees and putting his head even with the staple gun, which cuts loose with another staple that firmly pins Marv's nose to his face, if it needed such.

 

Harry sees a fire escape ladder in the back of the building. He tries jumping over to get it, but Kevin has covered it with some slimy substance that causes Harry to fall back down. When Harry finally opens a door, Kevin has it rigged up to release a bunch of tools onto the person entering, and Harry is entering! Meanwhile, Marv kicks open the front door, but when he steps inside, he plunges down to the basement level, as part of the floor has been removed for the renovation. When he recovers, he begins to walk, but Kevin has covered the floor with the same slimy stuff he put on the outside ladder, and Marv slides into some shelving full of paint cans. Down comes the shelving, paint cans and all, right onto Marv. When Marv goes to the basement sink to wash, Kevin has a battery connected to the pipes of the sink and he switches on the power. As soon as Marv tries to turn the water on, he's zapped by mega volts of electricity. So Harry wanders around, and he finds no tricks from Kevin; at least, not at first. He pulls the chain to turn on one of the lights and Kevin has it connected to a type of igniter which sets Harry's hat ablaze (similar to what happened in the original movie). Kevin has emptied kerosene into the nearby toilet, and when Harry tries to douse his hat and head by sticking his head into the toilet bowl ... KA POW! Marv's hair is all frizzly from the jolt of electric and he tries climbing up to the ground level through a hole in the floor. Kevin has a rope tied to a large bag of cement, but when Marv pulls on the rope, it seems solid, until he actually puts weight onto it. Down comes the bag of cement onto Marv. He regains his composure as Kevin climbs a ladder to the second floor (Kevin looks over at Marv and says, "Don't you know a kids always wins against two idiots?"). Kevin had used a saw to cut through part of the ladder, but it was still able to bear Kevin's weight, but not the weight of an adult. Harry is the adult... so to speak, and the ladder breaks and Harry falls to the floor. The two bungling crooks try going up the stairs, but Harry remembers how Kevin hit them with suspended paint cans before (in the original movie). So the two guys stomp around to try to make Kevin think they're coming up the stairs. Down swings a paint can and then another. Harry and Marv scream as if they've been hit, but they assume that's the end of Kevin's devices on the stairway. They begin to charge up the steps, when down swings what seems to be a large drain pipe on a rope ... BOOM! The two crooks are not only knocked down the steps, they are knocked down through the hole in the floor into the basement. As the pipe swings back up to Kevin, he cuts the rope, letting the pipe bounce down the steps right down through the hole in the floor and onto Harry and Marv. The two recover and climb back to the main floor, only to have Kevin taunt them with about how scared he is. Kevin ties another rope to the doorknob of the door to the attic stairway. He then ties the other end to a large tool chest on wheels, which he has right at the edge of the top of the stairs. Harry and Marv pull the doorknob and they wonder what the loud noise is they hear (it's the sound of the tool chest coming down the steps), so they put their ears to the door. The chest slams against the door, taking the door off the hinges and pushing the two crooks up against the opposite wall. Kevin heads to the roof where he climbs down a rope. Harry and Marv get to the roof and look down and see Kevin. Harry has to coax Marv, but the two begin descending the rope, only to realize that Kevin has soaked the rope in kerosene, and after Harry and Marv get part way down the rope, there's Kevin with a lit match at the bottom. He lights the rope and the two bungling criminals try to climb up the rope as the fire pursues them. They fall from the rope and break the scaffolding set up outside the building for the renovation. As they look up, now here comes paint and varnish cans down upon them from other scaffolding that has given way. 

 

Kevin runs to a payphone (there were such things back then ... haha) and calls 9-1-1 for the police. He reports that the men who robbed Duncan's Toy Chest are in Central Park West at 95th Street. He adds, "Look for fireworks. Hurry, they've got a gun." Harry and Marv recover and take out after Kevin, who can't hold back on one more taunt to "come and get me," but when he runs across a street, he slips on the ice and is dazed when he hits the ground. He looks up and there are the two crooks staring down at him. Harry and Marv walk Kevin into the park and they open the bag and take out the photos of themselves robbing the toystore. When Harry pulls a gun from his coat pocket, it's dripping with paint, varnish and slimy guck from the night's adventures. We hear the sound of wings flapping, hm, maybe angels? Buffalo wings? Honey barbecue? Nope, they're pigeon wings, and more and more pigeons are congregating. Suddenly the Pigeon Lady appears with a bucket. When Harry and Marv turn towards her, she yells for Kevin to run, and he grabs the bag and heads a short distance away. The Pigeon Lady empties the bucket onto the two crooks and we find the bucket is full of seed. With the various sticky substances on the two men, the seed sticks all over them and the pigeons cover them in a scene that undoubtedly had Alfred Hitchcock laughing in his grave (ah, if that's possible). (Comment: Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed the famous 1963 thriller film "The Birds," about masses of birds run amok and attacking people. Hitchcock died in 1980, and his body was cremated, so no laughing in his grave for Alfred.) Kevin thanks the Pigeon Lady and takes some fireworks from the bag with the camera. He lights the fuse and "BAM! POW! KABOMB!" The police arrive and fire a shot to scare the pigeons away. We see Harry and Marv covered with pigeon feathers and ah, what the Pigeon Lady's coat is covered with from the pigeons too. The police find the photos of the men robbing the toystore, as well as the tape of the guys threatening to kill Kevin from earlier in the movie. The police take the two away. 

 

A little later at the toystore, the police report to Mr. Duncan that the robbers have been caught and the money recovered. Mr. Duncan wants the money delivered to the Children's Hospital immediately and the police officer assures him he will deliver it personally. A detective has found the rock with Kevin's note tied to it and he gives the note to Mr. Duncan. In the note Kevin explains that he broke the window to help get the robbers and that if Mr. Duncan doesn't have insurance, he'll send him the money to pay for the window. He also again thanks Mr. Duncan for the turtledoves. (Comment: I wonder if Mr. Duncan offered anyone some of his donuts. You know, "Duncan donuts.") Meanwhile, Kate walks along asking people if they've seen her son, as she tries to show them a photo of Kevin. Most are disinterested, but she comes upon a police car with two officers in it (one with a cup of coffee, as likely he has already eaten a "Duncan donut"). At first she has trouble getting them interested in her situation (remember Kevin's talk with the Pigeon Lady, people have to be reminded not to forget, and she reminds the officers of their own children, and how the officers would react if one of their kids was missing), but she finally succeeds a bit, and as she talks about Kevin deserving to be at home with a Christmas tree, she tells the policemen she knows where Kevin is... Rockefeller Center (which has New York City's Christmas tree display every year). They take her there. As Kevin stands before the huge tree at Rockefeller Center, he confesses his mistakes and promises to forgive and love everyone in his life, regardless of their mistakes. Kate calls to Kevin and she runs to him and they hug and then go to the hotel. The next morning, Christmas morning, the family awakens to find all kinds of presents under a tree in their suite (which is pretty sweet). We find out the gifts are from Mr. Duncan (probably donuts), and as Kevin looks at the Christmas tree, a thought strikes him. He runs to get dressed and he heads to Central Park. There, surrounded by pigeons, is the Pigeon Lady. Kevin wishes her a merry Christmas and she turns toward him delightedly and returns the greeting. Kevin has her hold out her hand and he places one of the turtledoves in it. She is a bit confused, and Kevin explains that as long as she has a turtledove and he has a turtledove, they will always be friends. She is very touched and Kevin tells her, "I won't forget you, trust me." The two hug each other. 

                    

At the hotel, the bellman knocks at the McCallister door and delivers Kevin's room service bill, totaling $967. Buzz takes the bill into his dad. Outside, Kevin is with the Pigeon Lady when he hears his father scream, "KEVIN! You spent $967 on room service?" Kevin runs off. 

                   

  

Photo is isolated from the DVD Home Alone Collection by Fox Home Entertainment 2013

WORD HISTORY:

Pew-This noun is a close relative of "podium," a word English borrowed from Latin, but it is also related to "pedal," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via French, which had gotten it from Italian, and it is distantly related to "foot" and to "fetter," both words from the Germanic roots of English. "Pew" goes back to Indo European "ped," which meant "foot," with extended meanings like "support, base." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "pous," which meant "foot" and this produced the transliterated noun "pódion," a diminutive form meaning "(small) base" (seemingly initially used in regards to statues and vases). Latin borrowed the word as "podium," meaning, "an elevated area, platform or balcony in an amphitheater or an arena." "Podia," the plural of "podium," gave Old French "puie/puye," meaning, "elevated seat or platform, balcony, mound, parapet." English borrowed the word circa 1400 initially as "pewe/peue," and initially it was used for "elevated benches for certain, often important, people in a church," but later broadened to more commonly mean "rows of benches fixed in place within the worship area of a church," but the idea of an area for "important people" has also persisted in some churches.