Transcript

Is Home Alone a Top 5 Christmas Movie? ft. Kylie Kelce | New Heights Film Club

From New Heights · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 38 min · 7,071 words · 198 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Is Home Alone a Top 5 Christmas Movie? ft. Kylie Kelce | New Heights Film Club", an episode of New Heights published December 19, 2025 (38 min, about 7,071 words). It mentions 38 people, works and ideas, including Jason Kelce, Kevin McCallister, Home Alone, Harry (Home Alone character), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

What this episode is about

This discussion revisits the 1990 Christmas classic *Home Alone*, exploring whether it deserves a spot among the top five Christmas films. The hosts, Travis and Jason Kelce, along with guest Kylie Kelce, reflect on the film's legacy, their personal experiences with it, and engage in humorous banter about its plot and cultural significance.

Key takeaways

  • Airborne chaos: Home Alone made us wish planes were ziplines, not time bombs waiting for takeoff.
  • Kelce brothers: movie critics or Christmas film detectives? Home Alone nostalgia gets the best flak.
  • 90s kids: once wannabe ziplines to treehouses, now just wishing for a smooth life escape.
  • Cops, kids, and crooks: Home Alone teaches us sometimes trust is just one shovel away.
  • Kids' runaway bags: the absurdity of juice boxes, Legos, and dreams of fleeting freedom.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Home Alone, New Heights Film Club
  2. – 10:00: American Express
  3. – 15:00: Wet Bandits, Daniel Stern, Home Alone
  4. – 20:00: Home Alone, Steve Bogus, Wet Bandits
  5. – 25:00: East Side Kickers, Patrick Bacon, The Halls, Wet Bandits
  6. – 30:00: Gillette, Reese's, Reese's Trees, Daniel Stern
  7. – 35:00: Home Alone, Love Actually
  8. – 37:48: Home Alone, New Heights Film Club, Wondery Plus

Notable quotes from "Is Home Alone a Top 5 Christmas Movie? ft. Kylie Kelce | New Heights Film Club"

  • Coming up on this film club WE ARE JOINED BY KYLIE Kelsey to revisit this 1990 Christmas classic Home Alone it's a good one it's a good one. Let's check it out right now. Let's hear it.
    about Home Alone · at
  • Thank you to our sponsor, American Express.
    about American Express · at
  • Back to this neighborhood to burglarize a bunch of different homes. They call themselves the wet bandits.
    about Wet Bandits · at
  • Daniel Stern. What are their two names in the [ __ ] Harry and Marv.
    about Daniel Stern · at
  • I could have called Steve Bogus to come pick you up. I could have called [ __ ] I will say this, the dad in this movie doesn't give a [ __ ].
    about Steve Bogus · at
  • It's time to thank our partner. Who's that? Reese's or Reese's, however you like to call it.
    about Reese's · at
  • Jason Jump. Thank you to our partner Gillette. All right. Now, Jason, you've been retired for a full year. let's talk pregame rituals. Do you miss them?
    about Gillette · at
  • Love, Actually, that's not a surprise to anyone. don't say anything. Nobody was asking.
    about Love Actually · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • NFL (National Football League) — Company · 4 mentions
  • New Heights Film Club — Company · 3 mentions · first at
    Welcome back to another edition of New Heights Film Club. We're your host. I'm Travis Kelce. This is my brother Jason Kelsey. The smoothest guys you know. the guys that watch movies very closely.
  • East Side Kickers — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Conversations with grown-ups since we were like [ __ ] three. He would like bargain with our east side kickers coach on like how many laps like it was like a discussion like…
  • Pro Football Focus (PFF) — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

  • Reese's Trees — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    It's up for debate. Every holiday tradition is better when you add Reese's trees.
  • Gillette Labs — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Tidy. If you were looking for a tool to help wrangle it in a little bit, look no further than Gillette Labs. NFL licensed razor. Special edition razors have those longlasting…
  • Wondery Plus — Product · 1 mention · first at
    You get your podcast. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights adree right now by joining Wondery Plus and the Wondery app or on Apple podcast. Once again, New Heights was a wonder show.

Concepts & topics

Sponsors

Full transcript with timestamps

The only way this would have made sense is if the plane crashed upon taking off so that they never knew and everyone just died. That would have made sense that he was left alone for a little bit.

What the hell? It wouldn't have been as Christmy. Welcome back to another edition of New Heights Film Club. We're your host. I'm Travis Kelce. This is my brother Jason Kelsey. The smoothest guys you know. the guys that watch movies very very closely and critique and

and and give you good subscribe on YouTube plus wherever you get your podcast and follow the show on all social media at new heights show with 1s Jason why don't you tell the people what exactly we have for this episode

coming up on this film club WE ARE JOINED BY KYLIE Kelsey to revisit this 1990 Christmas classic Home Alone

it's a good one it's a good one. Let's check it out right now. Let's hear it. That's right. We're going to do a little Christmas New Heights Film Club edition. And the uh the film that you guys chose for us to review is none other than the Christmas classic Home Alone, 1990. This movie came out in 1990.

It was a 1990. I was surprised by that, too. Old. Yeah. Older than I thought it was.

I don't I feel like I saw it when it was like brand new, but I was only three years old. I doubt I did. I think it No, I think Home Alone 2 was the one that we were like

New York. Yeah. When was that? You're looking it up? No, I'm not looking up anything.

Home Alone 2 was uh Nope. It was 92. So, no, we we still were pretty young. Um yeah, either way, definitely thought it was like more mid to late 90s because we were uh we were kids when uh when we first were watching it. But

yeah. Yeah. Still a still a classic though. When did you see the movie? You weren't

I wasn't You weren't even born. Yeah. Look at me. So young. So young. Um I probably saw it. Uh I saw it sometime in the 90s. I know that.

Okay. Okay. I mean that narrows it down. So before I was eight. It's a good one for the kids. Have the kids seen it?

Yeah. Big kids have seen it. Ellie calls it Home Alone. Very very del. Love that. Benny does not like the uh slipping sand.

She does not. She freaks her out says it. Yep. I don't know why it freaks her out that much.

Ellie was asking me about the zipline the other day. Took us a while to figure out what the hell she was talking about. And she was asking me whether or not you can zipline on the power lines.

But she didn't say the word zipline. No, she didn't. She said on that rope and then we had to get to, you know, the guy in Home Alone does it. I'm like, I'm going to need more context than that. And she's like, you've seen the movie, Mom. And I'm like, "Yeah, a couple times, but I still don't know what the hell you're talking about."

Still making no sense. Yeah. So, we got to the bottom of it. She meant zipline.

I will say that when I was a kid, that was one of the like parts of the movie where I was like, "That I want that

for sure. You can zipline out of the house. That's what I want. I wanted my window. I don't even need They don't even need to see me downstairs.

I can go right to my treehouse. I wanted a treehouse." I mean, the whole thing it was just

Yeah. I will say this. When that when the first scene hits after like the like when that music starts cramming you so magical. It just like it like lifts me and I like start floating.

Yeah. The score is fantastic. It's a very well-made film. I'm glad it was the first Christmas movie I watched this year because it really did make me be like, "Oh, wow. It is this is Christmas. It is Christmas. Christmas is happening and we're here. We finally made it to December and that is uh the magical season is upon us.

Well, let's start recapping the movie. Let's do this. Okay. Oh gosh. Um how does it hold up?

Oh, it still cracks. It's still incredible. Still good. There's there's a few things that are starting to get dated.

There's a few things that are starting to get dated, but because it's a nostalgic movie that takes place in a time,

it's a period specific film now. U I think it's old. So, yeah. Teaches kids can't trust cops. Well, you can't trust anybody.

Crooked cops. Yeah, you can you can't trust cops, but you can trust the creepy man across the street.

The man with the shovel. Yeah. He just looks at you awkwardly. Yeah. All right. Have you ever wished for your family to disappear? For sure.

Are you talking about when you were growing up or right now? All the above. That's crazy. Maybe not wish for it, but definitely like thought of a life where it wasn't the reality and then was like, "All right, whatever. That's not ever going to happen.

It's not even worth wishing." Did you guys ever It's not even worth I only get a few wishes.

The ones that I really want to come true. Yeah. Did you guys ever run away from home?

No. I definitely did. Yeah, me too. I definitely ran away. I might have packed a bag, but I was such a rule follower. where I was like, I can't run away.

I think I like grabbed a bag of chips and threw it in a backpack and like a few toys and then [ __ ] got down the street and just like hid in the bushes.

I do think that there should be a trend on social media of what was packed in a kid's runaway bag and not grown-ups recounting it.

I'm talking about when a grown-up takes a Yes. takes a picture of a kid's runaway bag. I think that that would be cuz you know it's going to be it's going to be three Legos,

right? Juice box, a a stuffy, a single juice box, probably already drank, and maybe a half a snack.

Done. Yeah, I didn't You guys are ahead of me. I never I didn't even pack a bag. I just walked. [ __ ] you guys. And I walked out the door and I started walking.

He ran away the same way he goes to Vegas. Just I know where I'm going. Has everything I need. And then I got to the stop sign and says, "I don't know where I'm going

and I don't know." Where am I going to go? Friend's house. He doesn't know how to get there. Tra,

it was I was not new to that. Aimless Jason. Yeah. Everyone was terrified of Jason running away because

cuz he'd never make it home. We would really have to search for him. All right. I'll let you answer this, Trav. Who was the Kevin and who was the Buzz in the Kelsey household? I think it's I think it's going to stand true no matter what household it is. The older siblings is buzz

versus the younger siblings. Um because it's just I mean it is what it is. The older siblings always, you know, have fun with picking on the younger ones and the younger ones always wish that they were older and like had more responsibility so they would stop getting treated like they were irresponsible.

So you you identified as Kevin. Yes, 100%. I always watched the movie thinking I was Kevin.

I never watched it and I like saw myself as Kevin. I liked Kevin. I like the movie, but I I never was

Jay. I don't know that you're a planner like Kevin. the honestly the Rub Goldberg system that he implemented is

the map the the entire map that he had that he I mean he's like an offensive coordinator. He should be an offensive coordinator.

It was [ __ ] brilliant. I was like holy [ __ ] I didn't know. I didn't I didn't even remember that from like the first like 30 times I watched the movie. I saw that map and I was like whoa.

Wow. This kid Kevin's gonna be something dialed. Yeah, exactly. Kevin's going somewhere. He's going somewhere for sure.

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Bors head. All right. Well, let's recap the plot. For those of you that don't know, uh, if you've

Are there people who haven't seen living under a rock since the '90s? I don't think I've ever met anybody that hasn't seen Home Alone.

I mean, there's some young people that have probably not seen it if we're being honest. It is made in the '9s. There are people that surprisingly don't know anything about the '90s that I frequently encounter.

So, I I think they're out there. That's sad for them. All right, recap of the movie. There is a family, the Mallisters, who are vacationing over the holidays to France. Not just not just mom, dad, and the kids, but uncles,

family over there. Big family vacation going over to France for Christmas. And as they are getting ready, um there is also a group of burglars. This is a very well-off area who have decided to try and stake out a neighborhood to find out which families are leaving for the holidays and which homes might be good ones to rob. Um, and when the family is getting ready to leave the night before, power outage, so their alarm clocks don't go off on time, the family has to rush out the door in the morning because they're running late to the uh to the airport. And in this rush, they forget one of their sons.

They forget Kevin Mallister. He's in home up in the attic asleep. They get to the airport. They think they got everybody. They take off for France and mom doesn't realize till she's halfway over the ocean that poor old Kevin is still in the mean streets of Chicago. Kevin wakes up. Where's my family? Has no idea. All of a sudden,

well, he wished for his family to never, right? I I didn't want to. Yeah, I guess that is an important part. He did wish. So he at first he thinks that he actually

wished them away and Santa Claus had granted him his Christmas wish. And then he realizes the predicament he's in and that he's a child and he can't fend for himself and he starts to panic and all of these things happen where he's fearful and whatnot and I guess in order to say the plot, these burglars that have been casing out the neighborhood know that the Mallisters are leaving. So they go back to this neighborhood to burglarize a bunch of different homes. They call themselves the wet bandits. And

that's our thing. It's so good. In the process of burglaring burglizing these homes, Kevin notices one of the burglars who was in his house and perhaps the worst idea ever for a burglar to go expose your face to a bunch of people before you rob their home. Uh before you've done it, it just seems like a very bad

the wet band is good. Hey, let's go rob all these homes. say, "First, let's go show up at their house and show our face." And then when they come back like, "Hey, the cops were coming around the neighborhood uh earlier this week." No, we weren't. We had a cop in our house. We didn't No, no cop was in that neighborhood that night.

Yeah, it's a cop with a gold tooth. Anyways, yeah. Anyways, Kevin notices this burglar and he realizes that he's in trouble. So instead of having a security system like you would expect a very wealthy family of the Mallisters 90s

1990. Okay. They still had security systems in the 90s. They did 100%. But nice neighborhoods. Yeah.

Anyways, Mallisters, they're all gone. Kevin's by himself. Wet bandits are coming in. Kevin has to try and figure out a way to deter them. He does a great job of utilizing light systems and all the typical things, but eventually the wet bandits realize he's on his own. He knows that they know that he's on his own. So, he's got to think smart. So, he decides to set up a series of Rube Goldberg events throughout his entire house to inflict damage, harm, and slow these burglars down. Uh, he's not calling the cops. What? Because the power lines, the the phone lines don't work in this ridiculous madeup scenario.

Is that what's happening? I get I don't think he ever thought to call the cops. I think he just like took it upon himself to defend himself.

This whole [ __ ] Okay, so yeah, I want to get to the end of this so we can get back to the absurdity of this plot. Uh, anyways, in epic fashion, Kevin gets the better of the wet band. It's time and time again. Joe Peshy and god damn it, what's the other actor?

It's not Randy Quay. What's the [ __ ] He's very good. Daniel Stern. Daniel Stern. What are their two names in the uh [ __ ]

Harry and Marv. Harry and Marv. Thank you. Marv is uh D. All right. Anyways, Harry and Marv, they try to get into the Mallister's house. Kevin Mallister does a great job of setting up all these booby traps. They can't get in. They're trying to get in. Eventually, they get in. Then they get up to the attic. Then he zip lines out of the attic. It's a whole thing. At no point are they robbing them. They're just trying to apparently get Kevin and kidnap him or something like that.

At some point, they just say, "Fuck this. This kid is ruining our day. We're about to get after this [ __ ]

Um, and it uh it all ends with the neighbor down the street saving the day and the wet bandits being caught and Kevin being reunited with his family safe and sound. Uh, where do we want to start off with this?

I want to start off with we kind of mentioned earlier that that I always thought I was Kevin. Do you guys now watch that movie as if you're the parents?

I don't think you put yourself in This might be the most unreliable parents I've ever seen in a

Christmas movie. I mean, there just it's blatantly I mean, listen, everybody goes to like a like you leave with one without one of your kids at some point. I feel like that's like a a very standard thing. You should not feel shame for that necessarily. Maybe you forget about it long enough to take off an airplane. Yeah, probably should feel some shame there. But who the [ __ ] Like, I just don't understand how you can't call somebody to go get this [ __ ] kid. Like there's

there wasn't cell phones back then, Jason. Ridiculous premise that this one neighborhood is out of phone activity. YOU COULD CALL THE COPS. They have ways to

They called the cops. No, she did call the cops. She called the cops in like that area. No, she called the cops in her neighborhood.

Why are we calling if they aren't helping? I'm calling other cops. I'M CALLING FAMILY MEMBERS that are still there. They're hold I'm calling friends. Ruin the plot of the movie.

There is precisely 0% chance that I am just waiting a couple days before I can fly back to Chicago to see what happens with Kevin.

This is the most ridiculous. She got back in like a day and a half. I don't there's no scenario where you wouldn't be able to get somebody like anybody who GOT THAT CALL. ANYBODY WHO GOT THAT CALL SAID, "HEY, I'm in the airport.

I'm on an airplane going to France. I'm in France. I left my kid. Could you go do that?" If it was like two hours away, I would drive to go get a kid out from being by them. Like, this is just a It's the dumbest thing I've ever

You only get so many calls at the airport Jason. It's like jail. Everyone knows that. That's the nostalgia of the 90s though is that there is like that like it sounds so easy to just pick up your cell phone right now and just call everyone in that area and find it.

I'm not letting I'm not letting it just that easy. It was that easy. Everybody had landlines and anybody in the '9s could have received a phone call. This isn't the [ __ ] 30s where you had to go to operator and do people knew people's numbers. Yeah,

I could have called Aunt Judy who would have drove 40 minutes across town. Every all their family all their family went with them to France.

I could have called Steve Bogus to come pick you up. I could have called [ __ ]

I will say this, the dad in this movie doesn't give a [ __ ] was very disinterested. He was like, "All right, sweetie. You're going to try me that says there's no flights for another 3 days. Oh, you're going to keep

fighting uphill battle right now. He's lost. Give it up. He's done. It's over with.

He'll figure it out. We got the whole other family to be We can't ruin everyone's vacation.

It's so true. God damn. That's a great forgot how easy it was to get on a plane with like a ticket. like when you didn't like they she just handed an entire pile of tickets to the flight attendant and was like, "Yeah, this is all of us." She's like, "All right, cool. Go on up."

All right. Good luck. Didn't even count the how many tickets they had and how many people they had. Yeah. I was like, "Oh, nice. We were looking for you."

It's not good. It's I do think they did their best to explain away as much as they possibly could by saying a child will be home alone.

No. by saying that all of their extended family like every single person in their family was going on the show.

But we why are we acting like we don't have phone numbers to people that aren't immediately our fan? This guy worked at some [ __ ] business. Like he could have called a coworker. Like there's no way. There's nobody get

He actually didn't give a [ __ ] Yeah, he really is like that's that. He's like, "Are we getting?"

The only way this would have made sense is if the plane crashed upon taking off so that they never knew and everyone just died. That would have made sense that he was left alone for a little bit.

What the hell? It wouldn't have been as Christmy. That's so messed up. All right, so yep. Poor poor banditing to go and show your face to the place you're about to rob before you go in there. Just have like somebody else that's not going to rob it. You just pay somebody else to go in there and scope it out. Yep.

I guess then you're adding another person to the knowledge that you're doing it.

Yeah. But just wait till everybody leaves. Then you got to split it. Yeah. Um I don't I'm not a professional bandit. I just felt like that wasn't the wisest of choices. Uh,

what was your favorite what was your guys' favorite part of the movie? I like the opening the most to be honest with you. Watching

from the chaos of the Christmas and there's like so it feels very relatable like running around getting pissed off about really stupid things that only like siblings would be pissed off about.

Like the one like family member that wets the bed. There's this not being enough pizza.

Yeah. It just felt I it's and it also like the the 2 liter jug of soda and like the paper plate. All of it is just like very reminiscent of my childhood. I feel like other than the enormously

expensive house. Yeah. And the big and the big family. And the big family. But we we already we were around a lot of people around the holidays. Even though it wasn't family, it was friends and we'd go to holiday parties.

Yeah. Yeah. the Halls and uh their holiday party, their New Year's Eve party was always so much fun.

It was great. Yep. Shout out to the Halls. What uh Yeah. What was your favorite part?

I just I love the I love the mayhem. I love the mayhem of him planning how to [ __ ] with them.

Yeah. So good. So, you're more about the planning than the actual execution. No, I think the execution, but I do just you have to you have to appreciate how much thought and effort went into it and the fact that it went off without a hitch.

I mean, for things that happen precisely off of like a door opening, orchestrated. Yes.

Yes. Very well orchestrated. I like it. Pretty good. Trav, what about you? I'm going to go with the scene where he steals the toothbrush, then he runs away from the cops.

It's an exciting scene. I think it was a very fun he flanked. And I think the funny part of that whole thing is that the scene right after that, he immediately feels terrible for

for stealing and he I'm pretty sure he goes to church. Uh well I thought he Well, he goes to the church to run away from the wet bandits when he, by the way, very perceptive by Kevin in that moment to see Harry and realize that's the cop that was in my house and that this is not an actual cop and to like start walking away and then he runs to the church.

Does he he goes into the church before that or after that? He's in the church twice, isn't he?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, he goes into the church the night before, but then there is a scene where he runs to the church.

I just thought it was so funny that he stole something and then like as he's walking home

immediately trying to repent, he's immediately like, "Man, I didn't mean to steal this.

He didn't have any other choice." Yeah. I do got to say I I think it's probably

I didn't want to run from the cops. I think it's it's got to be the best cast Christmas movie of all time. Like could you think of anybody other than Moli Kulkin being Kevin?

Like the facial expressions it's Yeah, he crushes it. He just did such a great job. Like I don't know

like the way he talks. He like feels more grown up than what his age is, but he still looks like a child and innocent, but he's got like this great dry sense of humor. The only one that I know that talked to grown-ups at that age like as if they were a grown-up was Patrick Bacon.

Why would you guys say that at the exact same cuz we've talked about this before.

He has been He has literally had the same demeanor and like ability to have conversations with grown-ups since we were like [ __ ] three. He would like bargain with our our east side kickers coach on like how many laps like it was like a discussion like every like conditioning you had to do five laps

in like I don't know what do you think about three is good enough right I'm running I mean we're getting it we're getting it done right we're going to be running during practice too so we might as well you know

that's an interesting skill to have. Shout out to the bacons. It's time to thank our partner. Who's that? Reese's

or Reese's, however you like to call it. I'm pretty sure they would like us to say Reese's. So, we're going to say Reese's. And they're perfect holiday companion.

They're Reese's trees. Ooh, they are so good. Nothing says the holiday like Reese's perfect peanut butter stuffed chocolate trees. They might be the best holiday candy ever. It's up for debate. Every holiday tradition is better when you add Reese's trees.

Holiday movies. Yeah, I mean those go definitely better with Reese's trees. Ugly sweater parties.

I mean, who doesn't like chocolate stains all over their ugly sweater? I do. Skipping the ugly sweater party to watch football in your sweats instead.

I mean, that's a nobrainer. Of course. I mean, you throw on that ugly sweater anyways.

Yeah. So celebrate the season with peanut butter perfection. And be sure to grab Reese's trees today. Jason, why don't you tell them where you get them from?

Well, it's found wherever candy is sold. Literally, you can find it everywhere. I think I called you Jason.

Jason Jump. Thank you to our partner Gillette. All right. Now, Jason, you've been retired for a full year. Uh, let's talk pregame rituals. Do you miss them? Still have them? I kind of have one, I guess, for Monday night countdown. Like, I kind of I go do the uh production meeting, then I kind of iron out what's happening in the rundown, then I go to the makeup lady, then I go to the hair, and uh then I go on set.

Was just curious to see if you were putting that same game day energy into your uh new broadcasting routine. That's all. Well, first and foremost, it includes making sure that this beard is looking real nice, which is finally starting to show some of my grays again after dying it. I'm getting those natural colors back.

Thank you. Thanks so much. Um, but yeah, I have uh some some grooming individuals that make sure it's looking nice and tidy. If you were looking for a tool to help wrangle it in a little bit, look no further than Gillette Labs. NFL licensed razor. Special edition razors have those longlasting Gillette Labs blades and the precision trimmer on the back. It's perfect for cleaning up this guy.

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What? Um, but I think that the cast just because McCauley Ken, Joe Peshy, and uh, what is it again? Daniel Stern, Marvin Harry, Katherine O'Hara, the mom, John Candy,

the Leaving Yeah. leaving out the band as a he was more invested than her own husband was in finding him.

Yeah. Who was better, Marv or Harry? When you brought up best scenes, my favorite scene is really any scene where Marv is screaming.

He is an [ __ ] FANTASTIC like he has an electric scream. That scene where his head's on fire is one of the greatest [ __ ] things. set off the baby monitor

or I guess he's his he gets electrocuted. Harry's the one that has the head on fire when he's getting electrocuted and the whole like

so good. He's he also steps on the ornaments. I do think that Well, they both do, right? Or is it just him?

I think it's him cuz I think Harry's at the door handle. Oh, yeah. The burning door handle.

Joe Peshi kills it too. They're both so good. There's but good in different ways.

It's a great movie. It's got a whole like Lenny and uh like of Mice and Menfield with like Marv being the dummy and Joe Peshy being the the witty one, but he's really not that smart.

Where are you guys ranking Home Alone as a Christmas movie? Well, we're doing PFF grades, right?

But where where does Home Alone rank right now? Why does no one Why does no one want to ask who would who would nail this?

Who would nail what? Who would s go? Who would handle a Home Alone scenario the best out of all of us?

Travis. Not even a question. Are you kidding me? I would [ __ ] thrive. I've always thought Kevin Mallister and Travis Kelson.

You don't even think I have a You don't even think I have a shot? I mean, it just

Wow. No, you would have been more planned out for sure. My instincts would have been fantastic in situations like this,

guys. They [ __ ] around. I really think I could help them find out. Nice. Nice. That's all.

Well done. Yeah. All right. Where's the ranking in everybody's rankings? I'll go top five. I can't rank like

Yeah. It's hard to go like one, two, three four. Exactly. And I actually I think I like Home Alone 2 more.

Really? I don't I'm going to have to go back and watch Home Alone 2 now. I like Home Alone one definitely the most. Home Alone 2 is good though.

Still has the great same cast. Yeah. Um, I like the pigeon lady in Home Alone, too.

Yeah, she was great. Top five. Just trying to think. I like Okay, which movies do I like more than Home Alone?

Love, actually. Christmas Vacation, Christmas Story, The Santa Claus, The Grinch,

Great. I am not putting the Santa Claus above, but I do like The Santa Claus. It's a good movie. I just I think I like Home. Um, you know which one I really like, which is a newer one, but I watch it every Christmas now, is Claus.

You do like Clouse from Netflix. Great Christmas movie. I'm kind of like a sucker for The Claymation. Rudolph.

OJ. I think I like uh Elf better than Home Alone. So, not top five. I I think it's just out of the top five for me. I'm going I'm going I'm putting it in the top five with Grinch, uh, Home Alone 2, and, uh, and Elf. I'll probably say those are those three are probably the only ones I'm taking over it.

I think it's either top five. Maybe it's six, but I'm saying like the Santa Claus is up there. The original Grinch, not the original, I'm sorry, the Jim Carrey Grinch.

Yeah. Uh, I mean, Love, Actually, that's not a surprise to anyone. Um, don't say anything. Nobody was asking. Um, yeah, I' I'd say I'd say it's probably top five, but I think it's like the number five slot.

All right. PF Grades. Uh, Christmasness. I think this is high in Christmasness. So, all throughout the film, the whole reason this is happening is Christmas.

It has It also has like the the the soundtrack, the the setting, all of it. Like it's just very Christmassy.

Yeah. 10. I don't know if it can get more Christmy other than the Grinch. Yeah. I mean it doesn't have like Santa Claus, I guess, or like the

It has a reference to him. It does. It does. I don't know about it. Literally has him going to the church.

It has like the Jesus like what is it called in front of the church every nativity scene.

Yes. Yes. It's not but it's not like the Grinch or Rudolph or Frosty. Like it's not like a story that is

directly associated with the concept of Christmas. Yeah. I'm trying to like think of it. It's It's not like 10 out of 10 to me, but it's definitely very Christmassy.

All right. If I was like 98, I'll go 90. You go 98. You go 100. You want You want to go 98? Boom.

98. Acting. Acting. I'll 100 on this. I don't think there's one piece of bad acting in the whole film.

Directing. I'm going go another hundred. Wow. Just giving hundreds away. Jesus.

Just giving hundreds out. I think I'm I'm waiting for I Listen, I'm You only This movie wasn't

Is that more plot? I like it. It's just Yeah, I think that's more plot. I think that's more plot. He's gonna have a lot of questions. He's going to take it's going to take the hit on the plot.

We can go. We can go. Okay. If Yeah. 100. Fine. Plot. Where are we going? Plot. I will go.

It's not a believable plot, but is it a fun plot? It's a fun plot. It's not believable. It's not based on a true story, so I guess it doesn't have to be that believable, but it does have some holes. So, I I'll go I'll go 70.

I'll go 65. 65. I was going to say 80 or 85. I think the plot is so 90s. It's so 90s.

It's so 90s and it's delightful that way. What do you mean that it's delightful in that way that it's so 90s?

She's making airport like Yeah. I'm going What's your number? So 80. 85. Nice. Violence. Uh, violence. What?

Why is that? Do you guys really enjoy violence that much? We just needed We needed a bot. We needed a category. Um, decent amount of

What is the other category when it's usually not violence? What is it? We don't do Christmas

action. What is it? Acting, directing, plot. All right. It h it has I mean the violence is high.

It's not violent. It's not violent. It's It's physical harm. Yeah. But it's not like a violent. It's like a jokey. It's like a three.

Yeah. But like I mean, everybody knows the iron print on the forehead. I'm going to go I mean I just don't know. It's It's low in violence. High in violence for a Christmas movie, but low in violence.

This is going to ruin his PFF grade. It really is. What do we I don't Yeah. Can we do a different category than violence? You should do you should do category you should do if you're leading towards like the action part of it

you should do more of like the the finding out action. Yeah. Like the action of it like when they what the action like the meat of it.

It's a high action. Him doing the right entertainment. Entertainingness. The action in it is is I give it a 90.

Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah, that feels good. There you go. Who's doing the math? Brandon. Yeah, they they do the math for us.

They put it in Excel. It's gonna be somewhere in Yeah. 95. Great. It's a rounding error. It's a little bit.

Yeah, they definitely rounded that. Yeah. No chance. We got a 80 9 type more. Look at him. Yep. There you go. 94.6.

That was one of my favorite radio stations growing up. All right. Now, um well, that does it for our Home Alone uh New Heights Holiday Film Club uh recap right there. Jason, you did a great job on recapping the movie. Um, as always,

merry Christmas, you fill the animals. That was great. You guys go and have the creepiest Christmas ever.

Oh god. And that wraps up another EPISODE OF NEW HEIGHTS FILM CLUB. Thank you to Kylie for joining us. Thank you so much. We know that that is a lot for you sometimes. We've also got a full holiday episode with Kylie dropping on Christmas Eve. Make sure you subscribe to New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Channel on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights adree right now by joining Wondery Plus and the Wondery app or on Apple podcast. Once again, New Heights was a wonder show.

Please follow the show on all social media, new heights show with one s. And uh thanks to our new production team for being the best team that any teammate could ever ask for. We love you guys and we love you 92enters. Appreciate you tuning in. Um unbiased opinion 2 is better. See you guys next week.

Questions about this episode

What is "Is Home Alone a Top 5 Christmas Movie? ft. Kylie Kelce | New Heights Film Club" about?

This discussion revisits the 1990 Christmas classic *Home Alone*, exploring whether it deserves a spot among the top five Christmas films. The hosts, Travis and Jason Kelce, along with guest Kylie Kelce, reflect on the film's legacy, their personal experiences with it, and engage in humorous banter about its plot and cultural significance.

What is mentioned in this New Heights episode?

38 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Jason Kelce, Kevin McCallister, Home Alone, Harry (Home Alone character), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Wet Bandits. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Is Home Alone a Top 5 Christmas Movie? ft. Kylie Kelce | New Heights Film Club"?

The episode runs 38 min; the transcript is about 7,071 words in 198 timestamped sections.

More from New Heights

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated December 19, 2025.