Addams Family Values is a 1993 sequel to the 1991 comedy The Addams Family. The film was written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and many cast members from the original returned for the sequel, including Raúl Juliá, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Christina Ricci. Compared to its predecessor, which retained something of the madcap approach of the 1960s sitcom, Values is played more for macabre laughs.[2]
Plot
Gomez (Raúl Juliá) and Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) welcome the birth of their third child, Pubert (Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper). Older siblings Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) are antagonistic toward their new baby brother and attempt to kill him several times, but Pubert fortuitously survives each attempt. Worried by this behavior, Gomez and Morticia seek out a nanny to help look after the children. After Wednesday and Pugsley scare off the first few applicants, Debbie Jelinsky (Joan Cusack) is hired. Gomez's brother Fester (Christopher Lloyd) is immediately infatuated with her. Unbeknownst to the family, Debbie is a serial killer known as "The Black Widow" who seeks out wealthy bachelors, marries them, and then murders them on their wedding night, making the deaths appear accidental so that she inherits their fortunes.
Wednesday and Pugsley become suspicious of Debbie's intentions toward Fester, believing that she is after his vast riches. Debbie tricks Gomez and Morticia into sending the children away to a summer camp, where they quickly make enemies of the perky camp owners Gary (Peter MacNicol) and Becky Granger (Christine Baranski) and the snobby Amanda Buckman (Mercedes McNab). Joel Glicker (David Krumholtz), another social outcast, develops a crush on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Debbie advances her plot to seduce Fester: She professes to love him, but claims to be a virgin and says they cannot consummate their relationship until marriage, prompting Fester to propose. Wednesday and Pugsley are distraught at the news and try to escape from camp, while Gary and Becky repeatedly attempt to get them to be peppy. They are allowed to attend the wedding, and Wednesday brings Joel along.
On their honeymoon, Debbie attempts to electrocute Fester by dropping a radio into the bathtub with him, but he is unaffected. Frustrated by his resilience, Debbie uses her sexual hold over Fester to manipulate him into severing all ties with his family. The two move into a lavish mansion, and when Gomez, Morticia, Grandmama (Carol Kane), and butler Lurch (Carel Struycken) attempt to visit, Debbie forbids them from seeing Fester. Pubert soon goes through dramatic changes, becoming blonde-haired, rosy-cheeked, and cheerful. Grandmama determines that he is possessed, a condition brought on by anxiety over Fester's separation from the family.
Back at camp, Wednesday refuses to participate in Gary's play, a musical production of the first Thanksgiving. She, Pugsley, and Joel are locked in the "Harmony Hut" and forced to watch upbeat family films to curb their antisocial behavior. On emerging from the hut, Wednesday feigns perkiness and agrees to play the role of Pocahontas. However, during the play, she leads the other social outcasts—who have all been cast as Native Americans—in a revolt, capturing Gary, Becky, and Amanda and leaving the camp in chaos. Before she leaves, Wednesday and Joel kiss.
Debbie tries once again to kill Fester, this time by blowing up their mansion with a bomb. When he again survives, she pulls a gun on him and admits that she never loved him. Thing—the Addams’ animate, disembodied hand—helps him to escape. Fester, Wednesday, and Pugsley arrive at the Addams mansion, but the family's reunion is interrupted by Debbie who straps them—with the exception of Pubert—into electric chairs and forces them to watch a slide show detailing how she murdered her parents and previous husbands. Pubert, having returned to normal, is propelled into the room via a chain reaction of events and manipulates the wires just as Debbie throws the switch, causing her to be incinerated while the rest of the family is spared.
At Pubert's first birthday party, Uncle Fester becomes enamored with Cousin It's child's new nanny, Dementia. Wednesday and Joel visit Debbie's grave in the family cemetery; Wednesday says that if she wanted to kill her husband, she would simply scare him to death. As Joel lays flowers on the grave, a hand shoots up from the ground and grabs him while Wednesday gives a satisfied smirk.
Cast
- Cameo roles
Critical reception
The film was better received compared with the mixed reaction of the original. Critics complimented the film with largely positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 76% based on 35 reviews.[3][4] The site's consensus reads, "New, well-developed characters add dimension to this batty satire, creating a comedy much more substantial than the original."
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wondered if "the making of this sequel was sheer drudgery for all concerned", then answered herself by writing, "There's simply too much glee on the screen, thanks to a cast and visual conception that were perfect in the first place, and a screenplay by Paul Rudnick that specializes in delightfully arch, subversive humor."[5] Leonard Klady was slightly less enthusiastic in his Variety review, noting, "It remains perilously slim in the story department, but glides over the thin ice with technical razzle-dazzle and an exceptionally winning cast."[6]
Richard Schickel writing for Time magazine, called it "an essentially lazy movie, too often settling for easy gags and special effects that don't come to any really funny point."[7]
The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction (Ken Adam, Marvin March),[8] and Huston was nominated for the 1993 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance as Morticia, a reprise of her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1991 original.
Addams Family Values was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs.[9]
Box office
Addams Family Values opened at #1 at its initial weekend with a reported total of $14,117,545.[10] In its second week, the film dropped to #2 behind Mrs. Doubtfire, and in its third week to #3 behind Mrs. Doubtfire and A Perfect World.[11]
Its final box office take was $48,919,043,[12] a significant decline from the previous film's $113,502,426.[13]
Home media
The film was released on DVD in 2000 with two theatrical trailers as special features. It was re-released in 2006 with the first film on a single disc, with no new features.
In Australia, the film was released on VHS by Paramount Home Entertainment (Australasia) in 1994 with other movie trailers shown before the beginning of the feature film. In 2002 the film was released on DVD with theatrical trailers in the extra features.
References
- ^ Addams Family Values at boxofficemojo.com
- ^ Levy, David (December 20, 1993). "Charles Addams Might Grimace at This 'Family'". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-20/entertainment/ca-3865_1_charles-addams. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
- ^ "Addams Family Values (1993)". http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/addams_family_values/.
- ^ Rainer, Peter (November 19, 1993). "Let's Have a Hand for 'Addams Family Values'". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-19/entertainment/ca-58356_1_addams-family-values. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
- ^ Janet Maslin (November 19, 1993). "Addams Family Values (1993)". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9F0CE0D61E3DF93AA25752C1A965958260&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes.
- ^ Leonard Klady (November 13, 1993). "Addams Family Values". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117902009.html. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
- ^ Richard Schickel (November 29, 1993). "Looking for Mr. Goodfather". Time Inc.. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979692-2,00.html. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
- ^ "The 66th Academy Awards (1994) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/66th-winners.html. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
- ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for November 19–21, 1993". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=1993&wknd=47&p=.htm.
- ^ "Addams Family Values (1993) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=addamsfamilyvalues.htm.
- ^ "Addams Family Values box office totals". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=addamsfamilyvalues.htm.
- ^ "The Addams Family box office totals". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=addamsfamily.htm.
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