Max Mercer

Maxwell "Max" Johan Mercer is the main protagonist of the infamous 2021 Christmas movie Home Sweet Home Alone.

Why He Deserves To Be Left Home Alone

 * 1) Let's get the elephant out of the room, he is a complete rip-off of both mh:greatcharacters:Kevin McCallister (from Home Alone 1, 2, and 4) and Alex Pruitt (from Home Alone 3), but with none of the charm and likability that both boys had, due to many reasons listed below are things that he either lacks when compared to him.
 * 2) He is so incredibly bratty that he can already give Caillou a run for his money. He whines about soda and then steals a soda can which caused the whole mess in the first place, always contemplates about taking toys that were meant for needy children, and doesn't try to bother hearing Pam and Jeff out despite the two not wanting to hurt him until the end of the film. It doesn't matter if he is 10 since he acts just like any other brat ever made in fiction (or in real life).
 * 3) He's also incredibly whiny and disrespectful to his mother. Once again, unlike Kevin McCallister who felt mistreated, Max is instead being bratty for the pettiest things, such as not getting McDonalds. Which is on par with both SuperMarioLogan Bowser Junior and Jeffy's levels with being bratty and rude to the point of annoying.
 * 4) Compared to Kevin, who felt mistreated and antagonized by all of his family members (including getting wrongfully punished by his mother for something that isn't even his fault), Max wishes he was home alone simply because of he's cramped up with all of his relatives, which is just unfair and underserving since Max's family members don't even do anything mean-spirited or antagonizing to make him wish that.
 * 5) The one scene where he crossdresses as a lady is cringeworthy and even somewhat offensive to watch, especially to the LGBTQI community.
 * 6) While some of his traps (see RQ #1) are decent, most of his traps are either ripped-off from the other Home Alone movies (e.g. the ice trap (Home Alone) and the cookies trap (Home Alone 5) or just nonsensical (e.g. the VR trap).
 * 7) His role as the protagonist is rather misused, as he has less screen-time than the supposed antagonists, Pam and Jeff. Because of this, some could call Pam and Jeff the protagonists instead of him.
 * 8) Speaking of the previous point, he tried inflicting murderous, harmful and dangerous traps onto his relatives just because of a toy they were looking for to secure their home (all for some trivial misunderstanding as well!), where in the previous five films (the good, the mediocre, and the bad) at least kept the same ideal of the protagonist keeping robbers out of the house by making them fail at their schemes in order to defend their home from strangers. Max inflicting pain and suffering on his family members (a struggling couple who aren't strangers we mind you) makes him out to be way too loathsome and unlikable to be a character you should root for as the protagonist, hence making him come off more like an antagonist rather than a protagonist as intended.
 * 9) * On that topic, most of the injuries that he conflicts on Pam and Jeff in the film are more hurtful and disturbing rather than being exaggerated and funny, such as him sending Pam flying across the room by launching a dumbbell onto the treadmill to hit the yoga ball that Pam was holding, him setting an icy road trap on the driveway for Pam and Jeff to slip and fall, and him making Jeff continuously hit into walls when using the VR setup to the point that he gains a large bump on his head.
 * 10) *It also doesn't help that Pam and Jeff's reactions from all the abuse they had to endure from Max sound rather distressed and demotivated, with examples being that Pam crying after being burnt and the duo desperately pleading for Max to stop, which feels rather depressing than humorous and makes Max a lot more detestable than forgivable.
 * 11) Terrible and obnoxious acting from Archie Yates himself.
 * 12) *It's certainly a shame, because in Yates' previous role before this film, he won a Critics' Choice Movie Award nomination as Yorki in Jojo Rabbit, which just means wasted talent.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Some of the traps he created were decent and kinda impressive, despite being inferior to Kevin's traps in the first two Home Alone movies and being used in a very sadistic way, like the Lego trap and the Nerf trap.
 * 2) He does become likable at the end of the movie, and does get a chance to redeem himself.
 * 3) Although a questionable movie decision, Max didn't steal the doll, so he never did anything out of total malintent or evil (despite the traps he tried inflicting onto his parents were extremely mean-spirited to the point of irredeemable).