An eagle-eyed fan’s over-analysis may have finally provided some clarity on a specific Home Alone scene.
Early in the popular Christmas film, Kevin McCallister and his family cram themselves into the home’s dining area to enjoy a few slices of pizza. In one of the film’s most important scenes, as it sets up the events of the film, Kevin and his older brother Buzz clash over the last slice of cheese pizza. Unfortunately, Kevin’s reaction to discovering that his brother has finished off the final scraps of his favorite pizza selection gets him sent to his room and ultimately forgotten when the family heads out the following morning.
One Redditor thinks they may have cracked the code behind this titular scene, explaining that they believe the brothers fought over a pizza that never existed on the Fan Theories subreddit.
User PositionDistinct9517 explains, in the post, that early scenes in the film lead audiences to believe Buzz ate the only cheese pizza simply to spite Kevin, who doesn’t like other toppings. The pizza sabotage leads to a scuffle between the brothers, and the family leaves Kevin behind amid the chaos.
According to PositionDistinct9517, however, the cheese pizza was never even ordered. They point to a few pieces of in-film evidence to bolster their point.
First, there’s a conversation between two of the McCallister clan, Heather and Tracy. In one of the film’s opening scenes, the two young McCallisters share an exchange on the stairs, during which Heather asks Tracy if she ordered the pizza. Her response? “Buzz did.”
What seems like a throwaway line to most viewers is the backbone of PositionDistinct9517’s argument. If Buzz was in charge of ordering the pizzas, what is stopping him, being the “total dick that he is,” from taking an opportunity to mess with Kevin? PositionDistinct9517 proposes that Buzz took this chance to “escalate his prank” by leaving cheese pizza off the order and later indicating that he ate every last bite himself.
They even address some predictable arguments to their theory, like that the entire McCallister clan unknowingly consumed Kevin’s favorite pizza before he could get a slice. Pointing to various visuals in the pizza-eating scene, the Redditor claims that “there is no evidence of anyone having a slice of cheese pizza.”
They also note that Kevin enters the kitchen mere moments after Buzz, leaving his older brother with far too little time to consume even a single slice of pizza, let alone an entire pie. They also use a line from Kevin to bolster their argument, claiming that his question, wondering “did anybody order a plain cheese,” indicates that no cheese pizza ever reached the home.
PositionDistinct9517 uses a final example to cement their argument. Pointing to the scene in which Kevin asks the pizza guy why he “didn’t bring more cheese pizzas,” the delivery driver “seems somewhat confused.” This, to PositionDistinct9517, indicates that “he delivered an order that did not include a single cheese pizza.”
The theory is a good one, and PositionDistinct9517’s fellow fan theorists struggled to poke holes in it. One popular comment claimed that a scene in which one of the McCallisters proclaims “I want cheese” provided proof against the initial theory, but other commenters disagreed. One person pointed out that “Jeff has no reason to know, any more than Kevin, that Buzz left the cheese pizza off the order.”
As they clarified in the comment section, Jeff’s pizza desire served to bolster PositionDistinct9517’s point further. They wrote that, given his request, it stands to reason that Jeff would have received a slice of cheese if it had been available. However, later, we see him “getting a slice that has other toppings,” indicating that no such pizza was ever available to claim.
If you’d like to join the debate, Home Alone is available to stream for viewers with a subscription to Disney Plus.