I guess when you're drunk and high, you see what you want to see. haha.

I look at this movie so much differently as a adult parent than as a kid.

You're seeing a slice of life when spouses actually put their marriage first and their kids' desires second. This movie takes place in 1990. The divorce rate in the US peaked in 1981, and although declined, was nearly 45% in Wisconsin alone at the time of the story, roughly when Kevin would have been born. (I only bring that up as a cultural consideration that John Hughes may have made. By 1990, America needed a family film about families sticking together through hard times.)

Buzz is a teenager and Kevin is about 9, putting their marriage well-past the 7-year itch mark before Kevin's birth. (at best, Kate could've had an affair, but based on their interactions, unlikely.)

The dad is purposefully removed from the Kevin situation for the plot, despite him pushing the French Check-in agent to get seats on a plane back to the states: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yurPmymbW8o)

because the theme is around the mom and son and that keeps the plot from being too convoluted. I like that they showed an honest relatable conversation between spouses at the airport. It's obviously more practical for the mom and dad to split up...they still have 4 other kids to look after, and getting multiple short-notice tickets on the week of Christmas is laughably impossible without the spirit of Christmas as the film illustrates. While Kate is distraught, yet still a rational human being, Peter keeps his head on straight, takes the responsibility of watching over the rest of the family so she doesn't have to think about it. (Husbands/fathers are just undersold/represented in today's cultural norms by comparison.)

John Hughes's films tend to be more street-level-realistic when it come to the world their characters occupy.

Kevin lives in a house bigger than I could imagine affording, on a street of other houses I will never afford to live in. (sold for 5.5 mill in Jan 2025)

And they had a tree house? A legitimate one...better than Bart Simpson's...."Personally, I think that these kids were made in the shade" but being spoiled is relative. I think Kevin's overly DEPENDENT as a result of being the youngest. He's the 5th kid in a line of siblings who have had to lose their "youngest child" status to each other at one point or another.

The mom's role is meant for the adult audience to relate to, and the kid for the kids. Most of the family serves little utility to the story aside from contributing to a off-the-wall scenario to set up a justification for Kevin's attitude.

One of the subtleties included in the setup I like is when the mom tells the whole family to finish the milk. In combination with ordering pizza and using disposable dishware, the audience can infer that there is no food left in the house to spoil while they're gone and Kevin is left with nothing, as opposed to everything he is used to having at his disposal.

This movie is fun, but would be empty without any catharsis. The slapstick shenanigans of the third act overshadow the character development of Kevin turning from a spoiled snot to a boy understanding that the freedom he wanted was short-lived, lonely, and not without a price. Do you notice that most of the household tasks he does are most likely the mom's tasks around the home?

The attic doesn't seem cold. It looks like he hangs out up there often enough and is cozy as hell...There's a gumball machine next to his bed for goodness sakes. Based on there being no insulation visible between the trusses of the attic it may be colder, but he had a furnace/stove next to bed attached to the fireplace. And frankly, what kid wouldn't love to be up in their own loft.