Google's Christmas Ad Sees Macaulay Culkin Home Alone, Again

Damien McFerran 20/12/2018 - 9:13am

Say hello to Adult Kevin, 30 years later

Ahhhh, Christmas. The time of year where we eat, drink, exchange gifts, tolerate relatives and binge on all manner of festive movies, one of which is Home Alone. Since its release in the early '90s this piece of cinematic history has become one of the quintessential Christmas flicks, and Google knows it – because the search giant has just resurrected the story of the hapless McAllisters via a festive commercial which promotes how great its AI assistant and smart home connectivity is.

To do this, Google has hired Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin – who played the plucky Kevin McAllister in the first two films – to appear in the commercial, which recreates the feel of the original movie but gives Kevin a much more powerful tool this time around: Google Assistant.

Scenes from the film are repeated with a much older (yet still instantly familiar) Culkin, but the spin is that Google makes his life much easier in 2018. He doesn't have to venture down to the basement and face the scary furnace to control the temperature of the house, and all he needs to keep pesky burglars at bay is a robotic vacuum cleaner and a smart lighting system. He doesn't even have to worry about paying the pizza boy any change because he ordered online. Yep, life in 2018 is pretty swell, it has to be said.

Of course, Google isn't creating adverts just to make us feel all warm and nostalgic; this commercial is all about pushing Google products. The Pixel 3 XL – the firm's flagship smartphone for this year – features in one scene, as do the Google Home Hub and Google Home Mini. At the centre of the whole thing is Google Assitant, the company's AI-based Siri and Alexa rival, which skillfully co-ordinates all of these functions in the most effortless manner possible.

Despite all of this, it's the remarkably refreshed Culkin who steals the show, dropping into the role with relish. Culkin has had his fair share of troubles over the years but has, in recent months, cleaned up his act considerably and is looking better than ever. He launched a new comedy website, Bunny Ears, at the start of the year, and in 2016 starred in a commercial for Compare the Market.

Which leads us to our next Christmas wish… surely a new Home Alone movie – with a grown-up Kevin – is on the cards? Make it happen, Hollywood.

by dmcferran via Featured Articles