Max Mercer

Maxwell "Max" Johan Mercer is the main protagonist of the 2021 Christmas movie, mh:awfulmovies: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 mh:greatcharacters:Kevin McCallister, but with none of the charm and likability that Kevin had, due to many reasons listed below are things that he either lacks when compared to him.
 * 2) He is incredibly bratty. 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 SML Bowser Junior'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, Max wishes he was home alone simply because of he's cramped up with all of his relatives. Max's family members don't even do anything mean-spirited or antagonizing to make him wish that.
 * 5) The one scene where he dresses as a lady is cringeworthy and even somewhat offensive to watch.
 * 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 (mh:greatestmovies: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 parents just because of a toy they were looking for to secure their home (all for some trivial misunderstanding as well!). Where in the previous 5 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 hateable and unlikable to be a character you should root for as the protagonist.
 * 9) Terrible and obnoxious acting from Archie Yates himself.
 * 10) * This is a shame considering in Yates' last role before this film, he won a Critics' Choice Movie Award nomination as Yorki in Jojo Rabbit, which just screams 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).