THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When The Addams Family gained resurgence in the 90s with their first film, the popularity was so big that a sequel was abound thanks to making back seven times the budget. Was it worth it? Hell yeah.
PLOT
Addams Family Values takes a few months after the events of the first film. After Morticia gives birth to her third child Pubert, she and her husband Gomez agree for the baby to have a babysitter due to Wednesday & Pugsley having attempts of killing him. They hire a lady named Debbie Jellinsky, but little do they know she is a gold digging serial killer who targets wealthy men for their inheritance nicknamed the ‘Black Widow’. She is able to seduce Fester but when Wednesday get suspicious, she tricks her parents to send her and Pugsley to summer camp. At Camp Chippewa, they are outcasted by almost everyone from a snobbish girl their age named Amanda Buckman as well as leading counselors Gary & Becky Granger, until they befriend bookworm Joel Glicker. At home, Debbie quickly marries Fester and after her first attempt to kill him backfires by throwing a boombox in a bathtub backfires, she forces him to cut ties with his family. When he turns them away in their attempt to visit him, Pubert transforms into a blond haired and rosy cheeked baby instead of his previous state being dark haired and mustachio-ed. Grandmama suspects this to come from the disruption Fester caused when marrying Debbie, which only causes Gomez to become depressed. Back at camp, Wednesday gets casted by the counselors to act as Pocahontas in a thanksgiving play. She only agrees to it after being forced into a 'Harmony Hut' watching wholesome entertainment. On the day of the performance though, she returns to being her true self igniting the set on fire with the assist of Pugsley, Joel and other kids that are deemed outcasts. By night, she and her brother escape via campsite van. After failing to kill Fester in an explosion, Debbie holds him at gunpoint and confesses her intentions. Before she could pull the trigger on him though, she is stopped by Thing (Christopher Hart) who picks him up to bring him home. Just when that happens, Gomez's depression is cured and the kids return as well. However, Debbie follows and plans to kill them all via electric chairs. Before she flips the switch, she explains her motive of killing for materialism started since childhood with her own parents. She fails to kill the Addams family because Pubert kills her first by connecting two loose wires that reroute back to her, thanks to the baby returning to his previous state. The film then takes a time jump where Fester falls for Dementia, the new nanny for 'What' who is the newborn for Cousin It (John Franklin) & Margaret Alford (Dana Ivey). As the family celebrates Pubert's first birthday, the story comes to an end when Wednesday smiling as Joel becomes frightened of a hand emerging from Debbie's grave.
THOUGHTS
Considering how much joy I felt with the predecessor, I knew I was in for another batch of fun but I didn't expect expectations to be topped because this felt funnier than before. Director Barry Sonnenfeld and writer Paul Rudnick gave this spunk that favored the macabre humor we got used to and is dialed up in a way that works. I mean seeing Lurch (Carel Struycken) and the rest of the family freak out over baby Pubert going normal is a twist I wasn't ready. Speaking of which, it is the returning cast that make it all work in nailing every bit of dark humor and stick to the movie's moral in being yourself and to not let people change you for their own benefit. Raul Julia & Angelica Huston continue to make Gomez & Morticia the perfect couple due to being equals in their environment. I mean only they can be offended of dimples and a Buick. And Morticia roasting Debbie when she said she didn't like pastels in the house had me fall of my chair for laughing too hard. Carol Kane was a good replacement for Judith Malina due to her feistiness being cranked up when Debbie got into the fold. Of course, you know it's gonna be good when Wednesday & Pugsley are gonna fuck shit up together. Christina Ricci excelled as the daughter who just knows when to do exactly what she wants and Jimmy Workman is solid in making a loyal brother out of the latter. I mean only they can bury a cat alive and get away with sabotaging a thanksgiving play, as well as be remorseless when committing extinction on a bald eagle. It doesn't end there though because Wednesday temporarily breaks from being reserved when meeting her first love. In a similar vein, her relationship with Joel is an opposites attract vibe due to the young David Krumholtz making him a straight up introvert. They become attracted to each other due to how they respect their decision in wanting to be themselves when others aren't into it. If that is all they need to stay together, good for them. I loved Christopher Lloyd the most in his return as Fester because he's eccentric from the start and knows when to pick it up. In this case, he is in a case where he believes he found the one the way his brother did, but is fooled big time. Just when he thinks he will be forced to change to impress someone he barely knows, he comes around in reminding himself of his roots. The biggest strength this movie has is its villains who are bad to the bone and you end up loving to hate them. Peter MacNicol & Christine Baranski make the Grangers the most downright elitist of people since they are forcing the Addamses and Joel to enjoy what their activities because they're getting paid for it. With such a clear motive they ain't even trying to hide, it is quite easy to root against them. And Mercedes McNab, who cameoed as the girl scout in the first movie, was on point in making Amanda the biggest snob who supported their methods. Having said that, they all shared a deserving comeuppance in which the spotlight they were seeking was destroyed at their very eyes. The real scene stealer is Debbie because Joan Cusack owns it in her making her so diabolical due to taking her materialism way too far. This movie is timelessly fun, but even good stuff like this have issues to pick up on during a rewatch. For example, I was laughing that Thing wanted to take part of Morticia going into labor, but why didn’t he have a surgical glove on? Gomez could’ve put it on for him and him not doing so made no sense. And honestly, Pugsley should’ve not been surprised of the unreal tradition of wanting to kill the youngest child since Wednesday had multiple attempts against him in the first film. And why doesn’t Morticia put Debbie in an interrogation process with the kids? There was no point to treat her differently since she didn’t know her yet. Debbie is even lucky that the Addams family don’t even watch the news the day she is that exposits she’s a serial killer. I don’t even want baby Pubert to die, but why doesn’t Wednesday wait until the coast is clear if she wants to do it so bad? This is a real shitty way to get attention and she knows it. And she was wild to reveal she can’t swim in the middle of the exercise, but it was totally on Gary to not ask of this a day in advance. So if Amanda had died the second she sunk, boy that would’ve been his fault. Also, why would Debbie show off the shovel to confirm he took the ring of Gomez’s mother? Since this is one of those rare macabre moments that made him uncomfortable, this was a bad attempt for her to keep her cover even though it’s meant for us to know it was her and not Fester. She even messes up in not calling off the hearse in advance. Even if the driver is on it, it would’ve not been so hard to make a call. On top of that, who the hell had a guitar on him during the search party when Joel was trying to escape with Wednesday & Pugsley? If you’re telling me a kid is assigned to give one to Gary on the fly, that’s some crazy ass shit. Lastly, how did Debbie get everyone tied up to electric chairs? Yeah she had a chair, but it’s kinda ridiculous Lurch didn’t try to overpower her. That bothered me more than the fact that she had a slideshow of her past kills because that is evidence you’re holding onto and you’re risking the chance to get caught. Other than that, I’m still laughing my ass off to the rest of the jokes that play out. In short, Addams Family Values is a fantastic sequel for being more clever with its styled humor and then some. If you liked the first one, it’s a no brainer you’ll love this too.
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