Every Joe Pesci Movie Ranked Worst To Best

The family comedy blockbuster "Home Alone" remains a holiday classic decades after its release. Macaulay Culkin's portrayal of precocious Kevin McCallister launched him into superstardom. Kevin is banished to the attic by his mom, Kate (Catherine O'Hara) for misbehaving on the eve of their family Christmas vacation to Paris, and he's accidentally forgotten there. For Kevin, it's cause for celebration; for Kate, it's sheer panic; for The Wet Bandits, it's perfect. The Wet Bandits are Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), a bumbling criminal duo who've targeted the McCallister house for a heist. They think the house is empty, but Kevin's home, and he doesn't want visitors. Setting a series of elaborately violent booby traps, Kevin stops Harry and Marv, who are arrested for their crimes. Kate, after an arduous journey, makes it home, reunited with Kevin just in time for Christmas.

"Home Alone's" absurd comedic violence didn't endear itself to critics. Indeed, the New York Times critic went into an existential crisis in their review, noting that "very awfulness of these antics — a nail through a foot, a face stamped with a red-hot iron, a character's hair burned off the top of his head — is what makes them so riotous, at least from a small child's point of view." Pesci's Harry, whose hair is burnt off by a blow torch, is just menacing enough to create genuine fear in kids. He's also goofy enough to withstand the brutal punishment of Kevin, striking the perfect tone for a children's movie villain.