Why The Pizza Scene From Home Alone Means More Than You Think

There are essentially two types of "Home Alone" fans in the world: those who really like the film and try to watch it at least once between Thanksgiving and New Year, and those who watch it multiple times over the course of the holiday season, quoting every line of dialogue while plotting a sled trip down the first staircase they see. We're not here to judge either faction. Whether you're a casual fan of the film, or a full-blown "Home Alone" head, it legitimately ranks among the best holiday movies ever made, and there's just no wrong way to enjoy it.

As it is, even casual "Home Alone" fans likely know many of the movie's seminal moments by heart, all the way from the opening pizza night catastrophe to the tear-jerking finale reunions. On the subject of that opening pizza scene, it's obviously integral in setting up the film's "child left behind" narrative. Still, we're betting even a few of the "Home Alone" diehards out there might have missed a key detail in the scene that not only cements the fate of young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), but also covers what might otherwise have been perceived as a glaring plot hole. 

For those who haven't had "Home Alone" on repeat every holiday season since its 1990 release, the scene in question essentially opens the film and sees the McCallister crew gathering around a grande pizza feast. It also finds them prepping to catch their early international flight the very next morning. The scene is chaotic enough, but things go majorly sideways when 8-year-old Kevin gets into a tussle with his big brother Buzz (Devin Ratray), the result of which spills a river of milk all over the kitchen counter.

The aftermath of that event finds Kevin banished to the attic as punishment, and that's exactly where he is when the rest of the family dashes off to the airport without him. They actually don't realize he isn't on the plane until mid-flight, a fact that no doubt left some viewers wondering how the family didn't notice they had an extra ticket when they were checking in at the airport. If you're among them, you'll want to pay closer attention to that pizza disaster scene the next time you watch the movie. There is actually a brief shot of Kevin's milk-soaked ticket being accidentally tossed in the garbage amid the clean-up.

That cutaway is easy to miss in all the chaos, but it could not be more important to legitimizing how Kevin got lost in the shuffle. As for everything that follows, willful suspension of disbelief is still the order of the day for most of those shenanigans, and that's okay by us.