Addams Family Values
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| Addams Family Values | |
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 The one-sheet promotional poster. |
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| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Produced by | Scott Rudin |
| Written by | Charles Addams(characters) Paul Rudnick |
| Starring | Anjelica Huston Raúl Juliá Christopher Lloyd Peter MacNicol Joan Cusack Christina Ricci Carol Kane Jimmy Workman Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper Carel Struycken |
| Music by | Marc Shaiman Ralph Sall |
| Cinematography | Donald Peterman |
| Editing by | Jim Miller Arthur Schmidt |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 19, 1993 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $48,919,043 (domestic)[1] |
| Preceded by | The Addams Family |
| Followed by | Addams Family Reunion |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Addams Family Values (1993) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated sequel to the 1991 comedy The Addams Family. The movie was written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and many cast members from the original returned for the sequel, including Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Christina Ricci. Compared to the previous movie, which retained something of the madcap approach of the 1960s sitcom, Values is darker and more macabre, closer still to Charles Addams' original comic strips.
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[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
In the opening scenes, Morticia gives birth to a baby boy, Pubert Addams. When Wednesday and Pugsley jealously try to kill him, Morticia and Gomez try to hire a nanny, only to have the children frighten them all away. The last applicant, Debbie Jellinsky, proves to be of sterner stuff, and settles nicely into the Addams household; however, she is not really a nanny, but a fortune hunter/serial killer known as "The Black Widow". Debbie is after Uncle Fester and the vast Addams fortune. When Wednesday begins to suspect this, Debbie convinces Morticia to send both the older children to Camp Chippewa, a summer camp for privileged children.
Debbie marries Fester, then tries repeatedly to kill him during their Hawaiian honeymoon. However, as an Addams, he is practically indestructible, and he mistakes her murder attempts for ordinary affection. Frustrated, Debbie turns nasty, and tells Fester she won't have marital relations with him unless he promises never to see his family again. In anguish, he agrees. The "happy" couple then move to a garish McMansion in the suburbs.
With Uncle Fester gone, his younger brother Gomez goes into a depression, and Pubert becomes "possessed" which makes him blonde, rosy, and cheerful. A horrified Gomez learns that his son might even develop dimples. After the Addams' attempt to visit Fester, only to be turned away, Gomez takes to his bed, weeping and singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".
Meanwhile, at camp, Wednesday and Pugsley are not fitting in; Wednesday, however, does meet a soulmate of sorts in the person of Joel, an introverted Jewish boy plagued by allergies. She also encounters a rival, Amanda, the golden girl of the camp. It's thanks to Joel that Wednesday sees her suspicions about Debbie's identity confirmed.
When Wednesday refuses to play Pocahontas in the end-of-summer play, a salute to Thanksgiving penned by one of the counselors (Peter MacNicol) and entitled A Turkey Called Brotherhood, all three "little outcasts" are locked in the "Harmony Hut" and forced to watch The Sound of Music, The Brady Bunch, Annie, and a series of Disney movies. When they finally emerge, pale and dishevelled, Wednesday tells the counsellors in level tones that she wants to be perky, and sing, and dance, and be Pocahontas; she then summons up a ghastly smile, frightening the other children. During the play, the misfits of the camp, led by Wednesday, launch a surprise attack, take over the camp, and set it on fire; they also humiliate the camp instructors and Amanda, who was playing pilgrim leader Sarah Miller. Afterwards, Wednesday and Pugsley make their escape and hurry home.
Meanwhile, when Debbie blows up her new house with Fester inside, only to see him emerge smiling from the smoke, she loses her temper entirely, brandishes a gun, and snarls "I want you dead, and I want your money!" He escapes, with Thing at the wheel (and pedals) of Debbie's Lincoln. However, she follows him in hot pursuit to the Addams mansion, where she ties everyone to electric chairs - except baby Pubert, who returns to normal as soon as Fester comes home. Pubert escapes from his nursery and crosses the wires, so that when Debbie throws the switch to electrocute everyone, she is incinerated, leaving only a pile of ashes, her shoes, and a couple of credit cards.
In the epilogue, Gomez and Morticia give Pubert a birthday party. Among the guests is a potential new love for Fester, a bald nanny named Dementia who works for Itt and Margaret Addams (who have an Itt jr, named What). Joel, dressed like Gomez, also attends. Later, in the graveyard, he asks Wednesday if she would ever want to get married and have children, to which she flatly says no. He then asks her, "What if you found a guy who would do anything for you, who would be your devoted slave?" and she responds, "I'd pity him." Joel drops the subject and kneels in front of Debbie's grave, expressing sympathy for her. Wednesday informs him that Debbie was just sloppy, and that if she, Wednesday, wanted to kill her husband, she wouldn't get caught. Joel asks her how, and she replies, "I'd scare him to death." Joel shrugs this off, and proceeds to place flowers on Debbie's grave. Before he can, however, an arm bursts out of the ground and grabs Joel, implying that Debbie is still alive (or more likely that Wednesday set up a trap at her grave in expectation of Joel or others visiting it); Wednesday looks on, satisfied with Joel's screams.
[edit] Cast
Returning from the first film:
- Raúl Juliá as Gomez Addams
- Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams
- Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester
- Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams
- Christopher Hart as Thing
- Carel Struycken as Lurch
- Jimmy Workman as Pugsley Addams
Dana Ivey's character, Margaret Addams (Alford in the original film; now married to Cousin Itt), also makes a return appearance.
Additional cast:
- Carol Kane as Grandmama Addams, replacing Judith Malina
- Joan Cusack as Debbie Jellinsky, professional black widow
- David Krumholtz as Joel Glicker, Wednesday's love interest
Supporting roles:
- Peter MacNicol
- Christine Baranski
- Mercedes McNab, who appeared as the Girl Scout in the first film, plays Amanda Buckman
- Harriet Sansom Harris
Cameo roles:
- Peter Graves
- Director Barry Sonnenfeld
- Nathan Lane
- Tony Shalhoub
- David Hyde Pierce
- Cynthia Nixon appears as one of the potential nannies.
[edit] See also
- Addams Family Values: Music from the Motion Picture
- Addams Family Values: The Original Orchestral Score
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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