Addams Family Values (1993) Paramount/Comedy-Horror RT: 94 minutes Rated PG-13 (macabre humor) Director: Barry Sonnenfeld Screenplay: Paul Rudnick Music: Marc Shaiman Cinematography: Donald Peterman Release date: November 19, 1993 (US) Cast: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane, Jimmy Workman, Carel Struycken, Kaitlyn & Kristen Hooper, David Krumholtz, Christopher Hart, Dana Ivey, Peter MacNicol, Christine Baranski, Mercedes McNab, Sam McMurray, Harriet Sansom Harris, Julie Halston, Barry Sonnenfeld, Nathan Lane, John Franklin. Box Office: $48.9M (US)
Rating: ***
The kooky, spooky, altogether ooky clan is back in Addams Family Values, a follow-up to the 1991 hit adaptation of the TV series from the 60s. It’s one of those rare instances where the sequel is better than the original. This time, there’s an actual plot to go along with the funny sight gags and one-liners. As a matter of fact, there are three plotlines and they’re all good.
Most of the original cast returns with one notable exception. Carol Kane (Scrooged) replaces Judith Malina as Grandmama Addams. There’s also an addition to the family, a mustachioed baby named Pubert. Papa Gomez (Julia, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Mama Morticia (Huston, Prizzi’s Honor) couldn’t be prouder of their bouncing baby boy. Older siblings Wednesday (Ricci, Casper) and Pugsley (Workman) aren’t as enthused. They’re jealous to the point of subjecting him to sadistic games involving guillotines and dropped cannonballs.
It’s decided a nanny is needed. The older kids scare off the first few candidates with their devilish antics. The first one to not be freaked out by her weird and gloomy new surroundings is Debbie (Cusack, Toys), a cheerful sort who takes an immediate liking to Uncle Fester (Lloyd, Back to the Future). He’s actually her reason for being there. She’s a black widow serial killer who marries rich men and murders them to inherit their fortunes. She has her sights set on Fester’s money. That is, after she convinces him to cut off all ties with his family.
Deciding the kids have to go in order for her plan to succeed, Debbie convinces Gomez and Morticia to ship them off to summer camp. Needless to say, Wednesday and Pugsley don’t fit in at Camp Chippewa. This causes them to be singled out by the insanely upbeat owners Gary (MacNicol, Ghostbusters II) and Becky (Baranski, The Ref) who send them to the “Harmony Hut” for an attitude adjustment. The scenes of the Addams children reacting to abnormal behavior- e.g. group hugs, singing “Kumbaya”- are among the funniest in Addams Family Values.
Returning director Barry Sonnenfeld, working from a warped, witty screenplay by Paul Rudnick (In & Out), favors the macabre over madcap in Addams Family Values. He pulls off the incredible feat of making attempted infanticide funny. With a sister like Wednesday, I truly hope this kid has nine lives. Sonnenfeld also successfully goofs on serial killers with Debbie’s repeated failed attempts to kill Fester. Under different circumstances, Debbie would be a perfect addition to the Addams clan. Cusack, an extremely gifted comic actress, does a great job in the role.
Once again, the cast delivers with their perfect takes on characters first introduced in Charles Addams’ single-panel cartoons in The New Yorker. Just like before, Ricci steals the show with her deadpan line readings and morbid demeanor. When a snobbish camper asks her why she’s dressed like somebody died, Wednesday’s reply is “Wait.” Her finest moment is when she leads the other outcast campers in a mutiny during a play about the first Thanksgiving. Let’s just say she channels Tarantino with her revision of American history.
I don’t know what else to say about Addams Family Values except that Sonnenfeld brings his usual visual flair to the proceedings. The sets and costumes are terrific. The Addams house is still a combination funhouse and asylum. Disembodied hand Thing is still special effects mastery at its finest, but I do have one question. How does he drive a car without legs and feet? It’s a good scene even if it doesn’t make any sense.
I had a lot of fun with Addams Family Values. I like how it subverts the notion of traditional family values by giving us a clan that sees the ghoulish as normal while looking on in horror at the activities of “normal people”. It presents a married couple truly in love with each other. Does it matter that their favorite romantic spot is a graveyard? It presents a lonely man- i.e. Fester- looking for love in the wrongest of places. I dare say the Addamses are just like us in certain ways although I doubt there’s one among us that has a Lurch or Thing around the house.
