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Writer's pictureJulio Ramirez

The Addams Family (1991) Review



THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.


At one point or another, we encounter at least one family that has it different than you or any other family you would deem normal. If The Addams Family proved anything, different can be good. 


PLOT

Based on the comic strips by Charles Addams that were published from 1938-88 and later adapted as a series in the 60s, the 1991 film follows the titular family who are an eccentric kind of individuals that have an interest in the macabre and have an immunity to being harmed, as well as originate from Castilian royalty that inherits a large sum to provide their net worth. The family includes: The patriarch Gomez, his wife Morticia, his Grandmama, their daughter Wednesday, their son Pugsley, and their loyal butlers Lurch who is a mute, and a live sentient hand named Thing (Christopher Hart). For the past 25 years, Gomez laments having a falling out with his older brother Fester who he hasn’t seen since. His lawyer Tully Alford owes money to loan shark/con artist Abigail Craven and finds a solution when noticing her adopted son Gordon resembles Fester. He proposes the latter to disguise himself as the brother and infiltrate the Addams residence and steal their riches should he find a vault. Tully & his wife Margaret join a seance with the family in which they reach out to Fester’s spirit. Gordon arrives as Fester whereas Abigail poses a psychiatrist claiming to have found him trapped in tuna nets after being lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Gordon spends time with an overjoyed Gomez who admits the falling out originates from envy & jealousy in how fluent of a womanizer he was at the time and that he wooed conjoint twins to spite him. Both Gomez and Wednesday start picking up the possibility that their relative is an imposter due to forgetting important details of their past. After failing to find a vault due to walking into a booby trap, Morticia reminds Gordon/Fester the importance of family among the Addamses and their act of vengeance to those who cross them. Abigail also saves the con by saying Fester is suffering from displacement due to the Bermuda Triangle. Gordon however grows close to the family when attending a bloody swordplay sequence performed by the kids at a talent show, in which he helped them prepare. Because of going against Abigail, she tries to infiltrate the house on her own and fails when being captured by sentient vines. When she claims Fester must leave again, Gomez hosts a party where extended relatives visit. Gordon does enjoy himself, but Wednesday overhears him talking to Abigail of the plan, causing her to run away and hide in the cemetery. When Tully discovers that Fester is executor of the Addams estate which makes him owner of their property, he gets the help of Judge Womack to procure a restraining order against the family. The judge quickly agrees to this due to being annoyed of Gomez constantly hitting golf balls into his home. As the family move into a motel and find jobs, Gomez falls into a set of depression due to being betrayed by who he thought was his brother. When Morticia confronts Gordon, she gets taken hostage by Tully & Abigail who torture her until she reveals where the vault is. When Thing finds out what happened, he alerts Gomez to return home via code. The patriarch almost gives them what they wanted until Gordon stands up to Abigail, tired of her past acts of breading towards him. Instead of opening the vault, he kicks them out of the house with a magical book that causes a hurricane that also summons lightning that strikes Gordon himself. When that thwarts them out, the kids bury them alive. Seven months later, it is confirmed thanks to the electric shock from the book that Gordon was Fester all along due to suffering amnesia in his experience at the Bermuda Triangle, meaning Abigail was telling the truth of how she found him. As the family celebrates Halloween together, including Margaret who has now fallen in love with their extremely hairy Cousin It, the film ends with Morticia revealing to Gomez, that she is pregnant with her third child.


THOUGHTS


My preference is usually high octane adventure or a tear jerking drama, but I for one can throw in a gothic comedy every now and then. And like Beetlejuice, this one gets the job done. Director Barry Sonnenfeld and writers Larry Wilson & Caroline Thompson were able to make the most unique of a good time anyone could ask for. Whether or not you saw the 60s series, you just have this feeling you’re gonna enjoy yourself and you do. I mean you just know you can’t take it too serious when seeing Thing work as a courier and no one bats an eye, or the fact Sonnenfeld cameos as a little person living in Gomez’s train model. Each of these characters are oddballs in one way or another, but you quickly become attached to them because you respect them for being themselves. And with a cast that is on their A game from the get go, it’s another clarification you’re gonna enjoy yourself. Actors Raul Julia & Angelica Huston were a match made in heaven as Gomez & Morticia because they got their own approach in opposites attract. Gomez is a fun loving guy who is all about seeking the thrills, whereas Morticia has her own elegance no matter the conversation. Only they are the kind of people to enjoy ripping off a charity auction and read Hansel & Gretel to a kindergarten class. Judith Malina is a treat as Grandmama because she’s the most feisty which makes the least filtered. Only she is the one who dresses raggedy every day and no one says a thing, which is a clever joke when you think about it. Even Carel Struycken makes the most of his given time in portraying Lurch as a gentle giant who is far from materialistic and enjoys helping the family out. To me, the true scene stealers go to the kids. In one case, you can say that Jimmy Workman makes Pugsley adorable whenever he chooses to be dense or intelligent, but Christina Ricci makes Wednesday a national treasure due to how she’s the most morbid & reserved of people, yet still has her own heart to express. You can’t say you don’t relate to her enjoying to harm her brother when multiple sibling relationships can make rough-housing playful. And if you were immune to being harmed, you’d probably dial it up the way they do because only they can brush off being electrocuted. And somehow, only they can make me laugh with the amount of fake blood they used for their talent show sword fight. I was definitely surprised in how Fester was written here, but I still think it was a smart way to shake up the comedic insanity. Christopher Lloyd does a fantastic job in making Gordon who breaks from his selfishness that he was raised upon to become the gentle Fester we all know and love. Before he regains his memories, his time with the family reminds him that real families are all about love first and greed never. Elizabeth Wilson gives a believable go in making Abigail a cold ass lady who enjoys stealing from others and Dan Hedaya made Tully her true equal for being just as crooked in which both meet a deserving comeuppance. I was about as thrown off as anyone when it came to Margaret falling for Cousin It because you just don’t imagine such a pairing. However, Dana Ivey makes it believable since her character was seeking someone who just wanted proper affection and seemed to It to give her that more than Tully ever bothered. And since they had a baby in the sequel, they are definitely matching the energy of Gomez & Morticia as being the happiest couple. And in the end, family really does prevail whatever the scenario. This film has been able to make me smile more than I expected, but even fun stuff like this have questionable moments upon re-watching. For starters, how the hell did the family get the cauldron on the roof if the door is too small for it to fit? Did they do it pulling it outside with a rope? I gotta ask since it is inside the house midway through the film. On top of that, how did the Christmas carolers get in if the gate is alive? If the family doesn’t like carolers, there’s no reason for the gate to let them in unless it was somehow left open on accident. I then wonder if Tully has been in the house before, he should’ve avoided the bearskins rug that was bound to attack him. The continuity errors get weird when Abigail is across the room and is missing between takes during her conversation with Tully about the plan to rob the Addams Family. The same goes with the chutes being swapped, which are named after the kids. I respect they want to keep the twist in secret that Fester had amnesia the whole time, but saying it upfront would’ve been a believable case for the task of regaining his memory and expunge the family’s suspicion. Hell, he’s even lucky to nail the Mamushka dance by improvising. I did laugh at the judge taunting Gomez with the golf balls because of how Paul Benedict sells the satisfaction, but why hasn’t he dealt with sooner? As a judge, he could’ve filed a complaint that could’ve enforced Gomez to stop aiming at his house. Not knowing why he doesn’t do this is more confusing than noticing how involved he is as a civilian since he was an auctioneer and attended the school talent show. And ain’t it crazy Thing strolls around in the streets for quite an extensive period of time before hopping onto a car? I think so because he could’ve hopped around on the sidewalk if he didn’t want to risk getting ran over. Ignore this, then you’ll still have a good time the way I did. In short, The Addams Family is a creative comedy for letting loose with the quirks and doesn’t show regret which I didn’t mind. If you like quirkiness, check this out.


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