The 38-year-old actor returns in a new commercial as Kevin McCallister – and while the feisty eight-year-old is now fully grown, he's up to the same tricks previously displayed in the beloved 1990 Christmas comedy.

The ad, which advertises Google's home assistant, begins with an establishing shot of the sprawling McCallister house, which in Home Alone becomes the site of Kevin's ingenious booby traps as he defends it against a pair of robbers.

In just one minute, the video manages to tick several major Home Alone boxes. 

The grown Kevin has the house all to himself – which is slightly less of an issue than it was in the original film – and relishes in some alone time.

He runs out of aftershave, echoing the famous scene in which Kevin shaves his face then applies some of the product onto his cheeks, before screaming when he realises it burns his delicate skin. This time around, Kevin simply asks his home assistant to remind him to add aftershave to his shopping list.

Kevin then jumps on his bed, a simple pleasure he enjoys in the 1990 comedy after realising his family is gone.

He watches his favourite movie, the fictional Angels with Filthy Souls, and as he does in one of the most iconic sequences of Home Alone, uses some of the film's dialogue to talk to a pizza delivery man.

Just like in the original movie, Kevin eats a large bowl of ice cream while sitting in front of the television, with an extra bag of crunchy snacks next to him. 

His parents' furnace, of which he is terrified for much of Home Alone, makes an appearance. 

Kevin tucks into a dinner of macaroni and cheese when robbers pull up in their van in front of the house, closely echoing the events of the film. 

While the eight-year-old Kevin had to pull all his tricks by hand, all the grown-up version has to do is ask his home assistant to "begin Operation Kevin". The command sets a mannequin and a cardboard cutout into motion, making it look as though people are partying inside the house – and convincing the robbers to leave.

The ad marks one of Culkin's most direct acknowledgements of the role that propelled him to stardom at the age of nine.

He called his notoriety "a curse and a blessing" in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in April this year, explaining that he tried to go out "less and less" around the end of the year, when Home Alone is on everyone's minds.

The Independent

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