This took a trip to a second-hand store to get a copy of, it was Netflix last year but no such luck this year just the original and the animated one (note: it came back onto Netflix just days after I initially wrote this review - talk about bad timing).
Anyway, Addams Family Values is the sequel to the 1991 film. It released in 1993, I don’t have a lot to say about its production, only that regrettably the signs of Raul Julia’s ill health that would eventually lead to his death had already begun to show at this point. The film had a $47m budget, hoping to capture the same success the first one had but it wasn’t to be, the film floundered making only $48.1m back at the box office. That said, the critical rating was slightly higher than its predecessor. Did the film work for me, well let’s take a look?
Well, the birth of the baby, who they call Pubert shakes up
the family dynamic for about 10 minutes. Pugsley and Wednesday make several
attempts on the baby’s life and Morticia decides she needs more time to seek
out and join the forces of darkness, something she never does in the entire
movie. They hire a nanny but after each nanny runs away, they’re left with
Debbie Jellinsky, who Fester is instantly smitten with, and she seems to return
his affection. But she’s also a deranged serial killer, which frankly seems
perfect for the Addamses, who wants their fortune because yes, we’re doing this
sh*t again.
As Wednesday continues to be the only smart person in the
house and is instantly suspicious, Debbie does away with her and Pugsley and
gets them sent off to summer camp Chippewa, where they’re met with a bunch of
rich prep girls which frankly is far more frightening anything that Addams’
could do.
It's okay, is pretty much how I would describe this film. It
has some decent comic setups and punchlines but it doesn’t gel very well into a
cohesive story. I would say that the overarching story is by far the weakest
element of the script. There are some monumental plot-holes like Gomez,
Morticia, Debbie and Fester going out to dinner and seemingly leaving no-one to
watch the baby without even a cursory glance at that fact. Wednesday and
Pugsley leave camp for a wedding but somehow end up sent back even though
neither of them wanted to be there.
That being said, the summer camps are my favourite part of
the movie. It’s just a shame it feels really disconnected from the rest of the
story. Wednesday gets a few moments to shine, leading a revolt against the prep
girls and their scout leaders during a Pocahontas re-enactment. Is it me or are
a bunch of turkeys going around saying ‘eat me’ made all the more disturbing by
how chipper the song is.
Minor note, but their idea of trying to torture the gang
into chipper-ness is a bunch of Disney movies, including Bambi. The most iconic
sound from Bambi is a gunshot, should be right up Wednesday’s street. And
you’ll notice I’m saying Wednesday a lot without mentioning Pugsley and that’s
because he’s just kinda there for this movie, the 2019 movie is the only Addams
family film from my lifetime that utilised Pugsley in any significant role, and
its still the weakest of the 3.
I would’ve liked to have this subplot utilised as a full
movie; I hope they try something in a similar vein in Wednesday’s upcoming
Netflix solo series. She gets a love interest, Joel Glicker and acts kinda
perfectly like herself in spite of this, I kinda love it.
OK, I have danced around it for a while but whilst I know
the Addams’ family films were always subversive in their comedy, and a lot of
it works. The Addamses seeing how deranged Debbie is and being more impressed
and sympathetic than frightened is very on-point for them but when the children
try and kill the baby it crosses the line for me where it’s no longer
uncomfortably funny and is just plain uncomfortable and I’m glad it didn’t last
beyond the first act.
Fester and Debbie’s relationship after the wedding is
another area that almost deserves a full movie of its own. Debbie finding
creative and inventive ways to manipulate and try to kill him whilst he’s none
the wiser, surviving either by happenstance or just because he’s an Addams and
functionally immortal.
Debbie (Joan Cusack) goes massively over the top with her
acting at this point and it is absolutely glorious to watch as she acts out her
reaction to his death only to grow more and more frustrated as her elaborate schemes fail to
do the deed. It would’ve been funny to watch the schemes get more and more
elaborate and her reaction more and more frustrated until she eventually snaps.
I’ll admit it may have gotten old quickly, but I felt it deserved a bit more
time.
Pubert really isn’t that much of a factor, he sets off the
sequence of events that begins and ends the story, beyond that his only joke is
that he has a moustache. It’s difficult to incorporate a baby into a story
because by their very nature they have no narrative agency of their own.
Addams Family Values has a few good moments and some funny
jokes but it doesn’t really gel well into a cohesive whole. Characters are left
in the background as the film incorporates several subplots more interesting
than the main narrative. Still, the acting is pretty strong all round and it’s
still visually pleasing. I would be hard pressed to call it better than the
original, but I do see why some might see it that way.
Rating 70/100
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