Addams Family Values (1993)

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This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

This is a movie that made Christina Ricci famous, well deserved. The cast is the same as in the first film, but with the better scenario they got the chance to really show their skills, and Kristina is really fantastic. The scene in which Wednesday is trying to shape a smile is one of the creepiest things ever shown in a comedy and, for me, the first association to this film. In my opinion, the only weak point of the film is the performance of Joan Cusack, which seems too artificial. Regardless of whether it is a bad acting or she leaves that impression deliberately, I do not like it. Maybe it is not objectively better than its predecessor, but it certainly is much more fun.7/10

I said about the first film that Barry Levinson understood the Addams, not the audience. The look was there but the plot involving Uncle Fester's introduction to the Family to serve some malevolent business scheme didn't exploit the comedic potential of the Family to its fullest, and for a simple reason: the undercover uncle was as weird and wacky as everyone else and once we get immersed in the Addams' inner circle, no matter how bizarrely sinister it gets, we become immune to the effect of surprise and mildly smirk when we should be laughing.Now, this is a critic I can't formulate about the 1993 sequel "The Addams Family's Values", I think it's fair to say that Barry Levinson understood the audience… this time. Naturally, one glimpse at the poster, the cast and the first frames give us an idea. Everybody's there and the two-year gap between didn't affect anyone physically but there are significant newcomers, a baby and a bride, and these are not benign events in any family history. So the film remarkably confronts the Addams to the real world through real-life situations and instead of relying on a one-joke "Addams vs. Reality" note, it takes all the characters out of their zone of comfort and center their preoccupations on the basis of three story lines: we have the new baby, Fester's courtship, marriage and deadly honeymoon and the summer camp.But let's get to the film. It opens in a very straightforward way, Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) feels the sudden urge to go to the hospital as she will have a baby… we've seen more passionate displays of starting labors, but hey, this is Morticia. And the labor is as hard and painful as it can get, and you can tell because she enjoys every minute of it. Then comes the baby, and when asked about, a joyful Gomez (Raul Julia) proudly shouts "it's an Addams" and seeing is believing: the baby is the spitting image of his father, as if he was designed by a doll maker... with the obligatory pencil-mustache. Of course, he needs a name, and if you ask yourself what can be worse than Wednesday or Pugsley, well, let's just say parents were sued for lesser names than… Pubert.But here's where the film starts to show signs of improvements over the original: while the baby's birth could have been the inspiration for a few sight gags (there are some reminiscences of the first film with Wednesday and Pugsley trying to kill him), this is only a set-up, one thing leading to another, the baby brings the second newcomer, inevitably, a nanny Debbie (Joan Cusack), a beautiful blonde too fond on Pubert not to raise any suspicion. It is even fishier that she gets infatuated with Fester, and then we remember that he's a rich man and she seems to carry all the symptoms of the Black Widow. But here's the plot thickens, in order to keep on her 'nanny' cover, she needs get rid of the kids and convince the parents to take them to summer camp so they can repress their homicidal impulses.The film isn't funny all the time but you the dynamics work and makes it exciting to follow, it follows the rule that a good story with a few gags is better than a disjointed plot that tries too hard to be funny. And it dares not to focus on the Addams, Fester has never been my favorite character but his interactions with a woman he genuinely loves and who pretends to be attracted to him gives him a touch of vulnerability, and it enriches his relationship with Gomez and Morticia too, who still remain the romantic pillar of the Family. But just when you get too much on Fester, the film quickly jumps to the other subplot. And both are actually similar, you have a seemingly normal person who must pretend to love an Addams, while the Addams kids must adapt to the normal world, the worst, one that advocates such values as friendship, love and solidarity. Ugh!And this is why my favorite part is the Chipawe summer camp. Indeed, with the syrupy leaders played by Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski and the perfect little Daddy and Mommy's little girl, the Addams kids discover a real world which is do diametrically opposed to theirs that it is scary in its own joyful way, a bit like Debbie can be creepy behind her angelic smile. In the camp, there's another outsider Joel Glicker, a Jewish nerd allergic to everything (before it would become a cliché) and somewhat, the story manages to make the chemistry work between Joel and Wednesday, and their surrender to the saccharine tyranny believable (who can resists hours of "Sound of Music"?). There's also a very clever part showing all the kids who couldn't make it in the Pocahontas play, and the way their ethnic backgrounds play is a delight of politically incorrect humor.The power of the first two acts is to consolidate the Addams' status as outcasts no matter how hard they try to fit. And it all comes to a point where we want the Addams to be back to their 'normal' abnormal lifestyle, (or form for one of them), like the title says, the Addams have values, twisted and weird, but values nonetheless. The only sad aspect is to see Raul Julia in such energy and enthusiasm in a movie made one year before its untimely passing. And it's so sweet to see a young Cristina Ricci with her creepy smile closing the film, illustrating this bizarre mix of macabre and humor.The movie ends in the perfect note except maybe for the dreadful ending son, one that manages to get more horrific than the first one. Since the script transcended the sitcom format, how about a little nod with the usual da-da-da, and the two finger snaps.

The writers of Addams Family Values totally 'get' Charles Addams' subversive, black sense of humour, but they also understand how the family satirises mainstream Americans' hypocrisy and superficiality. The scenes and characters in this movie are just like the startlingly witty Addams cartoons. Morticia refusing anaesthesia in childbirth. Grandma helping the kids bury the pet cat alive. Wednesday and Pugsley playing with a guillotine rather than toys. Two performances elevate this movie -- Christina Ricci as Wednesday and Joan Cusack as psychotic nanny Debbie Jellinsky. Ricci is quite other-worldly, has a great grasp of her role and is very focused. She has the best lines and is beautifully directed. Her performance as the girl who creates havoc at the school camp is hilarious. You get the feeling a lot of real life real school camps are as horribly wholesome as the one Wednesday has to endure. As Fester, Christopher Lloyd has a straightforward and very familiar character -- maybe too faithful to the original Fester. But Cusack, as his serial killer love interest Debbie, camps it up, and has enormous fun, with almost as many great lines as Wednesday. Her goal is to kill Fester and take all his money, but in the Addams' nutty universe, that's a perfectly acceptable ambition.

After "The Addams Family" made so much money a sequel was inevitable. And I actually enjoy this one a lot more than the first. I found the first movie perfectly cast, but a missed opportunity, as I didn't find it a good or even enjoyable movie. Plot In A Paragraph: Pugsley and Wednesday Addams aren't very happy with the new addition to the family: their new baby brother, Pubert. The new nanny Debbie charms the family, especially Uncle Fester, who is head-over-heels for her. However, Wednesday and Pugsley see through her. Debbie is only after Fester for his money. Before they can inform their parents on her, she has the kids sent off to summer camp. Despite great turns by Peter MacNichol and Christine Baranski in supporting roles, not to mention a memorable performance by Joan Cusack and her cleavage. It's Christina Ricci that steals this movie. Her delivery is superb and she had me laughing out loud more than once.