The Addams Family

Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya, Elizabeth Wilson, Judith Malina, Carel Struycken, Dana Ivey, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Workman
Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Romance
1991

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: The Addams Family face danger from con artists who are impersonating Uncle Fester to steal the family's fortune.

Review:

Tim: I suppose it's impressive that this film resurrected the 1960s television series into a 1990s movie. The adaptation feels faithful to the original while standing on its own. However, first-time director Barry Sonnenfeld had a lot to juggle here, and unfortunately, he drops quite a few balls. This film has some wonderful moments, but as a whole, is a bit ineffective.

The biggest appeal of this film is seeing these memorable characters brought to life by a new generation of actors. The cast is easily the main reason to see this movie. I thought Raul Julia did a fantastic job as Gomez. Julia is an underrated actor and he brings talent to this manic role. Anjelica Huston was wonderfully cast as Morticia. These two interact so well together- they are one of the best parts of the film. I also really enjoyed the casting of Christopher Lloyd as a fake, Uncle Fester lookalike. He looks so creepy in the film but delivers a strong performance. Christina Ricci was a little scene stealer as Wednesday and she had some of the funniest moments of the entire film. Dan Hedaya was good as a sleazy antagonist. There's some other good supporting performances as well.

Sonnenfeld manages to create these small, incredible moments that are funny and memorable. Even years after seeing this film, I still remember Wednesday trying to electrocute her brother. I still remember the question about the Girl Scout Cookies- "Are they made from real girl scouts?" There's all these enjoyments moments scattered throughout the film. Those were really fun to see.

Unfortunately, outside of these strong moments, the film as a whole is lackluster. I never felt any connection to the characters- they are eccentric, but they are quite stupid, too. It's hard to care about inherently stupid people. The story dragged in way too many places- there were fairly substantial chunks of this film when I had to fight hard to maintain my focus. What was happening on screen just wasn't interesting and compelling enough. That was pretty frustrating, as it made this 99 minute film feel a lot longer. The script needed to be a lot tighter and it needed a director with more experience than Sonnenfeld. As is, this is a film with great moments that are connected with significantly less effective scenes. That is not a recipe for success.

While I'm not a big fan of The Addams Family, it's impressive that this film was the 7th highest grossing movie of 1991. That means the film did connect with audiences. Maybe some of the appeal was lost over the decades since it's release, but I doubt I'd ever have thought this was anything more than a decent but flawed film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Addams Family Values