{"id":4002,"date":"2024-09-13T04:04:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T04:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:01:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:01:14","slug":"addams-family-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/13\/addams-family-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Addams Family Values"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Addams Family Values<\/strong> (1993)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 94 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (macabre humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Barry Sonnenfeld\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Paul Rudnick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marc Shaiman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Donald Peterman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 19, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $48.9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The kooky, spooky, altogether ooky clan is back in Addams Family Values<\/strong>, a follow-up to the 1991 hit adaptation of the TV series from the 60s. It\u2019s one of those rare instances where the sequel is better than the original. This time, there\u2019s 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\u2019re all good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Most of the original cast returns with one notable exception. Carol Kane (Scrooged) replaces Judith Malina as Grandmama Addams. There\u2019s also an addition to the family, a mustachioed baby named Pubert. Papa Gomez (Julia, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Mama Morticia (Huston, Prizzi\u2019s Honor) couldn\u2019t be prouder of their bouncing baby boy. Older siblings Wednesday (Ricci, Casper) and Pugsley (Workman) aren\u2019t as enthused. They\u2019re jealous to the point of subjecting him to sadistic games involving guillotines and dropped cannonballs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s 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\u2019s actually her reason for being there. She\u2019s a black widow serial killer who marries rich men and murders them to inherit their fortunes. She has her sights set on Fester\u2019s money. That is, after she convinces him to cut off all ties with his family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Deciding 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\u2019t 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 \u201cHarmony Hut\u201d for an attitude adjustment. The scenes of the Addams children reacting to abnormal behavior- e.g. group hugs, singing \u201cKumbaya\u201d- are among the funniest in Addams Family Values<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Returning director Barry Sonnenfeld, working from a warped, witty screenplay by Paul Rudnick (In & Out), favors the macabre over madcap in Addams Family Values<\/strong>. He pulls off the incredible feat of making attempted infanticide funny.\u00a0 With a sister like Wednesday, I truly hope this kid has nine lives. Sonnenfeld also successfully goofs on serial killers with Debbie\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Once again, the cast delivers with their perfect takes on characters first introduced in Charles Addams\u2019 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\u2019s dressed like somebody died, Wednesday\u2019s reply is \u201cWait.\u201d Her finest moment is when she leads the other outcast campers in a mutiny during a play about the first Thanksgiving. Let\u2019s just say she channels Tarantino with her revision of American history.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t know what else to say about Addams Family Values<\/strong> 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\u2019s a good scene even if it doesn\u2019t make any sense.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I had a lot of fun with Addams Family Values<\/strong>. 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 \u201cnormal people\u201d. 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\u2019s one among us that has a Lurch or Thing around the house.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Addams Family Values (1993)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 94 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (macabre humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Barry Sonnenfeld\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Paul Rudnick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marc Shaiman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Donald Peterman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 19, 1993 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane, Jimmy Workman, Carel Struycken, Kaitlyn & Kristen Hooper, David Krumholtz, Christopher Hart, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Addams-Family-Values-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4002"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4422,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002\/revisions\/4422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}