140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Less of a fully realized picture than a series of gags, there’s nothing particularly wrong with this one – it just lacks any real purpose…
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Addams Family Values:
It’s fine. Really, it is. It’s not bad. It just isn’t really good, either.
The first Addams Family film was really well done and made a boatload of money, so of course there was going to be a sequel. They even set it up at the end of the first picture with the tease that Morticia (Anjelica Huston) was pregnant. So the new movie was certain to be about the Addams baby. That storyline is ok, even if it doesn’t have much stamina.
No, the problem, if there is one is in the sameness of the script. Writer Paul Rudnick did extensive rewrites on the original before taking over sole credit on this picture, and the whole thing just seems a little too familiar. The plot once again revolves around Fester (Christopher Lloyd) and the family is once again separated from him by manipulative outside forces. It’s just kind of lazy.
I suppose another way to look at it is Addams 2.0, taking all the things that went right in the first film and honing them further. And if that was a tv program that would be fine. I guess I just hoped for more.
There is a fantastic subplot about the kids being sent to a summer camp for privileged kids that very nearly makes the entire film worthwhile. Wednesday (Christina Ricci) takes center stage, which is entirely correct, and the cast of campers includes David Krumholtz, Christine Baranski & Peter MacNicol – all wonderful here. The musical production is enough fun to make you forget how lifeless the rest of the picture is.
Definitely worth a watch, Addams Family Values was a bit of a disappointment to me, in no small part due to the fact that so many critics insisted that the sequel was superior to the original. Nonsense…
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
[schema type=”movie” name=”Addams Family Values” description=”A comical Gothic horror-movie-type family tries to rescue their beloved uncle from his gold-digging new love.” director=”Barry Sonnenfeld” actor_1=”Anjelica Huston” actor_2=”Raul Julia” actor_3=”Christopher Lloyd”]
| Main Cast | Anjelica Huston Morticia Addams, Raul Julia Gomez Addams, Christopher Lloyd Uncle Fester Addams, Joan Cusack Debbie Jellinsky |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Fri 19 Nov 1993 UTC |
| Director | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Genres | Comedy, Fantasy |
| Plot | A comical Gothic horror-movie-type family tries to rescue their beloved uncle from his gold-digging new love. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 94 |
| Tagline | The Family Just Got A Little Stranger. |
| Writers | Charles Addams (characters), Paul Rudnick (written by) |
| Year | 1993 |