Although Catherine O’Hara’s career has been filled with many iconic roles, it is still, for so many, the part of “Kevin’s mom” a.k.a. Kate McCallister that remains her most cited/referred to. For many reasons, of course. Not least of which is her particular way of screaming, “Kevin!” when she realizes she’s left her youngest child behind. Or rather, “home alone.” Another thing about Kate that tends to remain fixed in the memory of Home Alone lovers the world over is her “hyper” personality (or what would today simply be considered “Karen” behavior) that amplifies whenever she’s on a mad and furious hunt to recover the child that she’s “misplaced.” Indeed, for a mother who loves her son so much, she has an odd penchant for putting him up in the attic and losing track of him whenever the family leaves the house. Still, such is the love of a “90s mom,” far more rough-hewn and “figure it out your fucking self” than the type of coddling, overly protective parents that would come later.
And maybe Kevin (Macaulay Culkin), out of all the McCallister children, would have the most reason to resent his mother for this form of neglect. Ergo, making him the person least likely to swoop in as her caretaker later on in life. Yet that’s clearly who he’s become as forty-something Kevin in the recent commercial that Macaulay-as-Kevin did for Home Instead. And, as is the case with many a Christmas-themed ad, this Home Instead one adhered to the “Mariah rule” of airing the day after Halloween, on November 1st, so that the maximum mileage could be gotten out of it for the holiday season. Though, of course, the brand (and Macaulay) wanted to position it as also being conveniently timed to coincide with the thirty-fifth anniversary of Home Alone, released in theaters on November 16, 1990.
Maybe the film’s milestone anniversary is also part of why, for the December 20th, 2025 episode of Saturday Night Live, the host for the night, Ariana Grande, played Kevin in a Home Alone sketch that repositioned Kate as a beleaguered mother that hadn’t slept in seventy-two hours, therefore bordered on total derangement. And this comedic tribute, once again, highlighted her character as being equally as iconic as Culkin’s. As for her sleep deprivation, it ties in to how Kate seemed to do whatever she could to prove her worth as a mother by going out of her way/trying to move Heaven and Earth to try to get back to her son during the worst possible block of travel days. Even if it meant no sleep (‘til Winnetka). A level of intensity and devotion that O’Hara conveyed with just the right blend of comedy and sincerity, prompting director Chris Columbus to remark upon her death,
“Today we lost Catherine O’Hara. I’m stunned and heartbroken, along with the rest of the world. I was an obsessive fan of Catherine’s brilliant comedic work on SCTV and was thrilled when she agreed to play Kevin’s mom in Home Alone. What most people don’t realize is that Catherine carries the weight of 50 percent of that film. The movie simply would not work without her extraordinary performance. Catherine grounds the picture with a profound emotional depth. I will miss her greatly. Yet there is a small sense of comfort, realizing that two of the finest human beings I’ve ever known, Catherine and John Candy, are together again, brilliantly improvising, making each other laugh.”
And while Candy’s presence in the movie as Gus Polinski, a “polka king” type, might be brief, it also stands out for its combination of humor and sincerity. Not to mention the way that O’Hara and Candy riff off each other’s energy. This only adding to the bittersweet irony of O’Hara’s final appearance in a movie turning out to be as one of the talking heads in Colin Hanks’ documentary on Candy titled I Like Me. What’s more, although many Americans assume that O’Hara and Candy only ever appeared in Home Alone together, they performed in many of the same sketches for the abovementioned Canadian series, SCTV (Second City Television), hence their bond/onscreen chemistry (not in a romantic way, mind you—even though O’Hara would admit to having “such a crush” on him during their early days of working at Second City together).
To add to their undeniable connection, Candy died the same day as O’Hara’s fortieth birthday (March 4, 1994). And then there was the fact that both of them seemed to vibe so well with Culkin that they each acted in two movies with him. For Candy, that meant playing his uncle in John Hughes’ still too underrated 1989 comedy, Uncle Buck, and later, his uncle again (albeit shown only ephemerally) in 1991’s Only the Lonely. And for O’Hara, that meant playing Kate McCallister twice. She didn’t have to do that sequel to Home Alone, but she did. If for no other reason than to prove that Kate could go full Karen with a haircut that was thought to be “fashion-forward” at the time.
And it’s probably the same kind of short haircut Kate would have as the unseen “old lady” of a mom in the Home Instead commercial. Wherein Kevin not only ominously mentions how “Mom’s getting older,” but also speaks to one of his siblings (though surely it can’t be Buzz) on the phone about his concerns for all the ways in which their mother might come into harm’s way because of her apparently rapid aging, noting, “I’m just worried about Mom being by herself, you know? What if she falls down or gets snowed in?” Or what if she gets some unexpected “brief illness” (as the media keeps referring to whatever it is that caused O’Hara’s death)? And then ends up not having anyone to turn to because she’s home alone thanks to no one in the family turning to Home Instead so that “home doesn’t have to mean alone.”
Although O’Hara doesn’t show up in any way in the commercial—not even via the name “Kate” or “Mrs. McCallister” being mentioned at any point—it’s unavoidable that the audience wouldn’t picture her as the “Mom” that Macaulay-as-Kevin is alluding to. After all, O’Hara’s death has proven that, above all else, she’s still most closely associated with this role, as evidenced by such headlines as, “Catherine O’Hara, Two-Time Emmy Winner and Home Alone Star, Dies at 71″ and “Catherine O’Hara, actor known for Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek, dies aged 71.”
So it is that Culkin’s Home Instead foray feels somehow like a retroactive taunt to the reaper by making her seem so decrepit and frail, so prone to a death caused by “unforeseen circumstances.” Perhaps the guilt of that invocation is why Culkin’s tribute to O’Hara was arguably the most moving of all, with him posting two photos of the two together in similar poses, decades apart: one from Home Alone when they reunite at the end, and one from Culkin’s 2023 Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, at which O’Hara gave a heartfelt speech about her honorary son. And, to be sure, O’Hara was, for Culkin, far more maternal than his real mother, Patricia Brentrup, ever felt to him. Which is why Culkin emotionally attached to his gentler onscreen mother early on and never seemed to lose that bond with her. Something made apparent in his brief but gut-punching tribute that read, “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Until that time, it would appear that “Kevin” might be due to inherit at least a one-fifth portion of the much-coveted McCallister house. This premise in and of itself being ripe for another sequel in which the McCallister siblings reunite and proceed to argue endlessly about who gets what from Kate’s estate (obviously, Buzz will be the greediest and most heinous to deal with).
Genna Rivieccio
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