Addams Family Values
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| Addams Family Values | |
|---|---|
 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. |
The movie begins when Morticia gives birth to a boy, Pubert. Wednesday and Pugsley develop a rather extreme form of sibling rivalry, attempting to kill the baby but when 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; she is, however, a fortune hunter/serial killer known as "The Black Widow" after Uncle Fester and the vast Addams fortune. When Wednesday begins to suspect this, Debbie convinces Morticia to send the older children to Camp Chippewa, a summer camp for privileged children.
Debbie marries Fester, then attempts to kill him during their Hawaiian honeymoon. As an Addams, he is practically indestructible, and he mistakes her murder attempts for ordinary affection. At her wits' end, Debbie 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"--he becomes blonde, rosy, and cheerful. Meanwhile, at camp, Wednesday and Pugsley are not fitting in; the camp is populated by bubbly blond campers from wealthy backgrounds. Wednesday, however, does meet a soulmate of sorts in the person of Joel, an introverted Jewish boy plagued by allergies. who confirms Wednesday's suspicions of Debbie.
When Wednesday refuses act in the end-of-summer play, all three "little outcasts" are locked in the "Harmony Hut" and forced to watch movies and television shows ranging from The Sound of Music, to The Brady Bunch. The three pretend to be cowed long enough to completely sabotage the play and flee the camp for home in the pandemonium.
Meanwhile, when Debbie fails to kill Fester by blowing up the house, she snarls "I want you dead, and I want your money!" He flees, but she chases him to the Addams mansion, arriving just as Wednesday and Pugsley arrive home. Debbie ties everyone except Pubert to electric chairs. Pubert short circuits the wiring, 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. Joel and Wednesday sneak off for a romantic moment in the family graveyard, where he asks Wednesday if she would ever want to get married and have children; she flatly says no. He then asks "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 expresses sympathy for Debbie, but Wednesday says 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." As Joel places flowers on Debbie's grave, an arm bursts out of the ground and grabs Joel. 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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