Addams Family Values (1993)

Director:

Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers (WGA):

Charles Addams (characters)
Paul Rudnick (written by)

Release Date:

19 November 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

The Family Just Got A Little Stranger.

Plot:

A comical Gothic horror-movie-type family tries to rescue their beloved uncle from his gold-digging new love.

Plot Keywords:

Nanny | Uncle Fester | Summer Camp | Love | Baby

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Anjelica Huston	...	Morticia Addams
Raul Julia	...	Gomez Addams
Christopher Lloyd	...	Uncle Fester Addams
Joan Cusack	...	Debbie Jellinsky
Christina Ricci	...	Wednesday Addams
Carol Kane	...	Grandma
Jimmy Workman	...	Pugsley Addams
Kaitlyn Hooper	...	Pubert Addams
Kristen Hooper	...	Pubert Addams
Carel Struycken	...	Lurch
David Krumholtz	...	Joel Glicker
Christopher Hart	...	Thing
Dana Ivey	...	Margaret Addams
Peter MacNicol	...	Gary Granger
Christine Baranski	...	Becky Martin-Granger

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for macabre humor.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:10 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Nathan Lane has a cameo as a police officer in this movie. He would later go on to portray Gomez Addams in an off-Broadway stage adaptation of The Addams Family.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Gomez goes to the police station to report his brother Fester being held captive by his wife Debbie, the Desk Officer (Nathan Lane) has Sergeant stripes on his uniform sleeves, but a patrolman's badge (silver) on his shirt. Sergeant's wear gold badges.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Wednesday: [giving a funeral to a cat in a shoe-box] Come, sorrow; we welcome thee. Let us join in grief, rejoice in despair, and honor the fortunate dead.
Grandma: Dearly beloved...
Wednesday: [the cat mews and Wednesday shakes the box] Shh! Quiet!
Grandma: [starts piling dirt on the box]

Movie Connections:

References Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Soundtrack:

Theme

Darkly funny and enjoyable sequel albeit lacking anything that new (if that's a bad thing)

The Addams family just got a little stranger with the addition of a new baby boy. However with the new arrival, Wednesday and Pugsley become isolated and try to kill little Pubert. With all this squabbling, Morticia sounds gets tired and seeks help from a nanny. After many failures, they settle on the sparky Debbie – although Wednesday has her suspicions. These suspicions seem to be justified whenever Debbie convinces Morticia and Gomez to send their children away to a summer camp and then marry Uncle Fester – a man so repulsive that love cannot be the reason.

Many films wheel out sequels by simply adding something to the original film; often it is a child and often it doesn't work. However with this film the child is not the focus but a plot device for bringing in a nanny who in turn splits the plot. The result is a solid plot that basically retreads the mood and humour of the original film which, for fans, is not a bad thing at all. For me I enjoy the dark world of the modern Addams family and felt that the plot did enough to be more than just the frame for it. The silly dark humour works well and it produced many laughs while also achieving a consistent humorous tone. I can understand why some people don't like it because it is the sort of thing you really need to "get" and I "got" it; also slightly more uptight parents may not like the examples set their kids in the film (but f**k 'em if they can't take a joke).

The cast are a major factor in the humour working. Although Fester is the focus of the film, Julia is still a real joy and his chemistry with Huston is really enjoyable and they make their lines work well. Lloyd is a perfect Fester and he is consistently funny. Cusack makes the most of her role and she fits in well with the tone of the film. Ricci yet again steals the film and her deadpan delivery is funny across the whole film. The support cast have lots of cameos and smaller roles and it is fun without being distracting to watch the faces including Kane, MacNicol, Pierce, Shalhoub, Lane and Sonnenfeld himself.

Overall, if you enjoyed the first film then you'll like this, and vice versa. Personally I enjoy the darkly comic tone and consistent laughs that it produced, while the good performances across the board raise the material and provide some real joys in Julia and Ricci.