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"Isn't he a lady killer!" the sexy young nanny says when she first meets Fester, the long-lost brother in the Addams Family.

"Acquitted," Gomez corrects.

And we are back again in the upside-down world of the Addamses, who find solace in sadism, cheer in gloom, pride in boasting that their little son has been given probation. They live in a onejoke universe, arrived at by embracing the mirror images of all respectable values. But the good news is, this time I found the joke funnier than in the original " The Addams Family " (1991).

It's the rare sequel that is better than its original, and yet "Addams Family Values" qualifies. Nothing much seems to have changed; the stars are about the same, the director is still Barry Sonnenfeld , the Addams mansion still towers above a blasted heath, next to a graveyard. Maybe I liked it more than the original because I was in a different mood? Perhaps, knowing I was going to see twee little MacAulay Culkin in " The Nutcracker " right after seeing this film, I was in the mood for macabre bad taste? Or perhaps the screenplay, by Paul Rudnick , contains more invention than the 1991 effort. "Addams Family Values" involves not one but three subplots, all of them funny and one of them (about the birth of a new baby boy) the source of one great sight gag after another. "I'm going to have a baby," Morticia ( Anjelica Huston ) tells Gomez ( Raul Julia ). "Right now." In an inevitable twist on the usual movie childbirth scene, she's in agony in the delivery room - and loving every minute of it.

The little newcomer, named Pubert, sure does take after his dad. Even to the pencil mustache. "He has my father's eyes," Gomez murmurs. "Take them out of the baby's mouth!" Morticia exclaims. The pre-existing Addams children, Wednesday and Pugsley, are insanely jealous, and even try to arrange the baby's decapitation on the guillotine that is conveniently in the basement.

The services of a nanny are clearly required, and the family hires Debbie Jelinsky ( Joan Cusack ), who arrives in a low-cut uniform, and takes charge. Nothing in the household seems to bother her, not even the unexpected arrival of Thing, a disembodied hand that leaps onto her shoulder. She's not worried: "I'm good with my hands." Debbie is revealed to have sinister designs on poor Fester ( Christopher Lloyd ), the long-lost Addams brother whose reappearance provided most of the story in the 1991 film. After all, he is one of the richest men in the world, in addition to being probably the ugliest. In an attempt to get the older children out of her hair, she convinces Morticia and Gomez to send them to summer camp, where they do not, needless to say, fit right in. Then Wednesday meets her first boyfriend, and there is little doubt they were, alas, made for one another.

What is most beguiling about "Addams Family Values" is the way the relationship between Gomez and Morticia has ripened. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston are given a lot of one-liners and payoff gags, of course, but what's funny is the stuff that comes in between - the real affection with which they embrace each other, and the way they delight in their unspeakable lifestyle. English is not language enough to contain their emotions. They venture into French and Spanish, the tongues of romance, to reflect the happiness they feel, living at the center of a nightmare.

Joan Cusack, a natural comedian, makes a good addition to the cast. "I just adore little babies," she says, looking at tiny Pubert. "I just want to grab them and squeeze them until there's not a breath left in their tiny little bodies." Her attempts to lure Fester away from the family crypt and into a more comfortable lifestyle lead to one of Huston's great lines, when she visits Fester's new digs. She doesn't mind that he is miserable and unhappy, the captive of a gold-digging bitch, but . . . "the decor, Fester! Pastel?" Of the previous film, I said, probably unfairly, that it so closely resembled Charles Addams' original New Yorker cartoons that the art direction must have been a cut-and-paste job. Looking more thoughtfully at "Addams Family Values," I no longer agree. Addams in his cartoons created one of the most easily recognizable imaginary worlds of the century, but the achievement of this film is to make it concrete, to put the family in a physical setting where their ghoulish lifestyle seems, well, almost appropriate.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Addams Family Values (1993)

Rated PG-13 For MacAbre Humor, Of Course

Anjelica Huston as Morticia

Raul Julia as Gomez

Christopher Lloyd as Fester

Carol Kane as Granny

Directed by

• Barry Sonnenfeld

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Addams Family Values Reviews

A step up from its already-solid predecessor, Addams Family Values doubles down on the camp and macabre humor to wonderful effect, thanks in no small part to scene-stealing turns from Ricci and Cusack.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 6, 2022

A more confident film than its predecessor. Very appreciative of the harsh satire about Thanksgiving and the substantial roles for female actors, particularly a very game Joan Cusack, who delivers an iconic camp performance as Debbie.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 27, 2022

While the film can lean into corny at times, following predictable tropes and expectations, Cusack‘s performance as Debbie truly elevates Addams Family Values into a sequel that can stand strong with its predecessor, as well as on its own.

Full Review | Nov 26, 2022

Addams Family Values is an endlessly quotable 90s gem that should have a place in your Thanksgiving movie rotation if there is such a thing. Not because it takes place on the actual holiday, or teaches us about sharing with others.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 23, 2022

The mood is still macabre, although, on the whole, not as funny or fresh.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 22, 2022

To put it bluntly, this is not for the anti-Beavis & Butthead faction. The humor is sicker, more mean-spirited and darker than in the first show... But older kids and adults will cackle fiendishly at the one-Iiners.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 22, 2022

Add to the crypt Addams Family Values, the illustrious and far superior sequel which picks up where the original left off.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 22, 2022

By the time the cast, crew and creators of this film have had their way, there are few icons left un-smashed. To subvert another American verité, theirs is a job well done.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 22, 2022

Rudnick has actually made an effort to live up to the film’s title, and the film is sort of a rebuke to Dan Quayle and other heralds of nuclear-family normality. Unfortunately, it’s neither a particularly savage nor lucid one.

Full Review | Sep 22, 2022

Teetering on the brink of absolute tastelessness and cutting-edge humor, Addams Family Values lands just where you want it: dancing gracefully on the grave of one long gag.

The result, if you've seen the first effort, is utterly predictable throughout since the whole conception is stymied by the fact that this is a black comedy designed for a PG certificate, and thus only a very pale shade of gray.

Addams Family Values is a rare comedy sequel that actually improves on the original, and the reason, I suspect, is that Rudnick, who wrote the screenplay, has been allowed to run wild.

Paul Rudnick's script is wicked, tart, satiric, hilarious: It gives director Barry Sonnenfeld and his impeccable cast both a springboard and a safety net.

Addams Family Values is a ghoulishly fun time. It would have been a real howl if the producers weren't too scared to go out on a limb in this twisted family tree.

You've got to hand it to moviemakers who are willing to get so grisly... Unfortunately, that sort of gleeful malevolence doesn’t last long. It's soon replaced by the same hit-and-miss comedy that characterized the original Addams Family in 1991.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 22, 2022

This time, Sonnenfeld doesn't bury the jokes in exposition about characters we already know... What was missing before was an interesting storyline, which screenwriter Paul Rudnick concocts with diabolical humor.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Sep 22, 2022

Ken Adam, the great British designer responsible for Dr Strangelove's War Room and Ernst Stavro Blofeld's most sinister hideaways, has lovingly made his near-namesake's world three-dimensional, as well as creating its bland, middle-American antithesis.

Addams Family Values is a series of clunky one-liners dressed up with some half-hearted attempts at social commentary.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 22, 2022

Just another quiet night with the Addams clan. Another chance to make money from a sequel-starved public that will watching anything as long as it requires no original thought.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 22, 2022

You can see Addams Family Values suffers from multiple movie personality. The producers couldn't make up their mind what to do with this wretched sequel so they gave you a little bit of everything.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 22, 2022

Addams Family Values (1993)

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Addams Family Values

They're back!!! Yes, Charles Addams' gloriously macabre characters have returned in "Addams Family Values" and the big-screen sequel looks to be on a commercial par with its inspiration, which scared up $ 200 million at movie houses around the world.

By Leonard Klady

Leonard Klady

• ‘Hearts’ trumped 25 years ago
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They’re back!!! Yes, Charles Addams’ gloriously macabre characters have returned in “Addams Family Values” and the big-screen sequel looks to be on a commercial par with its inspiration, which scared up $ 200 million at movie houses around the world.

Nonetheless, the new outing, written by Paul Rudnick and again directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, shares many of the pluses and minuses of the 1991 excursion. It remains perilously slim in the story department, but glides over the thin ice with technical razzle-dazzle and an exceptionally winning cast. Chief among its virtues is an anarchic spirit that embraces and delights in all that is politically incorrect.

The screen equivalent of a Rube Goldberg invention kicks into action as Morticia (Anjelica Huston) informs devoted hubby Gomez (Raul Julia) that they are expecting a child — right now. The new spawn, the cuddly, moustached Pubert (Kaitlyn & Kristen Hooper), immediately becomes the object of offspring Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley Addams’ (JimmyWorkman) lethal jealousy.

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So the couple try to recruit a nanny. Naturally, the candidates are horrified by their encounter with this unique household. Everyone, that is, except the nauseatingly perky Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack). We soon discover that her bottomless taste for the bizarre is promoted by a desire to woo, wed , murder and abscond with hapless, lovesick Fester Addams’ (Christopher Lloyd) considerable financial assets.

When Debbie gets wind that the kids have picked up on her scheme, she devises a clever ruse to pack them off to the snobbishly elite Camp Chippewa.

The story is merely functional. It may be foolhardy to expect a film culled from cartoons and sitcom to have an organic, feature-length plot. The source material, after all, affords a seemingly limitless cache of opportunities to hold up a mirror to society and present its converse with humorous bite.

The success of the Addams family in all its incarnations is that subtle balance between normality and the outrageous. Somehowthis family unit, which embodies so many wrong values, still has as its bedrock the sanctity of hearth and home.

Huston and Julia are one of the truly magical screen couples; it is a sublime pairing of effortless grace. Their masterful deadpan sincerity makes it impossible to imagine any other combination of actors in the roles.

The cast is uniformly wonderful, with young Ricci providing a depth to her character well beyond her years. Newcomer Cusack is a lively addition, playing her black widow character as a princess with an attitude. Also notable is Peter MacNicol as the suitably loopy, vane, misguided camp leader and a raft of cameos from a rogue’s gallery that includes Nathan Lane, director Sonnenfeld and Mr. “Mission Impossible” Peter Graves.

Designer Ken Adam creates a rich, textured environment to set the scene. It is a handsome foundation for the other tech credits and such inspired wackiness as Gomez and Morticia’s wild, masochistic tango.

“Addams Family Values” rates high on the commercial tote board. It’s the kind of wickedly delicious comedy one can savor without adding the proviso of guilty pleasure.

• Production: Paramount Pictures presents a Scott Rudin production. Produced by Scott Rudin. Executive producer, David Nicksay. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Screenplay by Paul Rudnick, based on the characters created by Charles Addams.
• Crew: Camera (Deluxe color), Donald Peterman; editors, Arthur Schmidt, Jim Miller; music, Marc Shaiman; production design, Ken Adam; art direction, William Durrell Jr.; set decoration, Marvin March; costume design, Theoni V. Aldredge; visual effects supervisor, Alan Munro; sound (Dolby), Peter Kurland; associate producer , Susan Ringo; assistant directors, Burtt Harris, Mark McGann; casting, David Rubin, Debra Zane. Reviewed at Paramount Studios, Nov. 13, 1993. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 93 min.
• With: Morticia Addams - Anjelica Huston Gomez Addams - Raul Julia Fester Addams - Christopher Lloyd Debbie Jellinsky - Joan Cusack Wednesday Addams - Christina Ricci Granny - Carol Kane Pugsley Addams - Jimmy Workman Pubert Addams - Kaitlyn & Kristen Hooper Lurch - Carel Struycken Joel Glicker - David Krumholtz Thing - Christopher Hart Margaret - Dana Ivey Gary Granger - Peter MacNicol Becky Granger - Christine Baranski Amanda Buckman - Mercedes McNab

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Review/Film; The Addams Family's New Addition

By Janet Maslin

• Nov. 19, 1993

"These Addams men; where do you find them?" coos the family's voluptuous new nanny (Joan Cusack), trying to make a good impression. "It has to be damp," explains Morticia (Anjelica Huston), the Addamses' reigning mistress of witchy delivery and sly, sugar-coated malice.

"He has my father's eyes," coos Gomez (Raul Julia), admiring little mustachioed Pubert, the baby who arrives at the start of "Addams Family Values." "Gomez," Morticia says evenly, "take those out of his mouth."

Now it could be that the making of this sequel was sheer drudgery for all concerned. But it doesn't seem likely. There's simply too much glee on the screen, thanks to a cast and visual conception that were perfect in the first place, and a screenplay by Paul Rudnick that specializes in delightfully arch, subversive humor. That the ghoulish Addamses somehow remain much sweeter than the rest of us is no small part of the joke.

Even if Mr. Rudnick's script isn't as wall-to-wall funny as "Jeffrey," his current hit Off Broadway, it is buoyant in absurd, wonderful ways that the Addamses would themselves enjoy. "Have you really never had sex?" asks this same nanny, once she has begun to entrap the bald, bashful Fester (Christopher Lloyd) in her gold-digging scheme. "Well then how do you know we're not having it right now?"

Armed with its irresistible title, "Addams Family Values" does have a potential problem. Once Gomez and Morticia become parents again, must they abandon the Addams taste for the macabre and begin acting like normal people? Could a baby curb the family penchant for deadly practical jokes and other mayhem? The answer, thanks to Mr. Rudnick and the director, Barry Sonnenfeld, is a clever and tactful one. Baby-baiting is left strictly to Pubert's siblings, Pugsley ("We don't hate him, we just want to play with him") and Wednesday ("Especially his head!").

The senior Addamses are allowed to wax parental, but only up to a point. One of the film's better sight gags is the nursery design featuring sharks and vultures painted on the walls, black swaddling, and an over-the-crib mobile made of knives. Later on -- these touches are nicely spread out over the course of the movie -- a tiny Hannibal Lecter mask completes the effect.

With less novelty than its predecessor but more of a plot, "Addams Family Values" contrives some changes of scene. It sends Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and the enchantingly glum Wednesday (Christina Ricci) off to Camp Chippewa, "America's foremost facility for privileged young adults" and a place where just about everyone else is a blue-eyed blond. Presided over with insane pep by the counselors Becky and Gary Granger (played hilariously by Christine Baranski and Peter MacNicol), this place provides an ideal new context for appreciating the Addams point of view.

It also gives the Addamses a chance to sabotage the camp's Thanksgiving pageant in memorably creative ways. "Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs!" Wednesday warns the Pilgrims, as she horrifies their pastel-clad parents while playing a Pocahontas hell-bent on revenge. The pageant's holiday song is among the film's musical highlights, along with a "Whoomp!" Addams rap number heard over the closing credits.

Meanwhile, in an equally amusing subplot, Fester is spirited off by the nanny and transformed into a nouveau riche version of his former self. Mr. Rudnick, also the author of a novel about a shopping spree called "I'll Take It," brings obvious enthusiasm to this section of the story, perhaps in part because the lonely Fester is such an innocent. Planting Fester in the midst of a group of foreign sailors who sing "Macho Man" is the sort of thing the film does best.

Mr. Sonnenfeld repeats some of the first film's favorite visual stunts without wearing out their welcome, and he sustains much more exuberance than a sequel might be expected to have. The cast, which now includes Carol Kane playing Granny Addams, remains foolproof and great fun. New to this second story is Joel Glicker (David Krumholtz), Wednesday's first boyfriend, the kind of boy who enjoys reading "A Brief History of Time" at summer camp. Joel generates a Michael Jackson gag, one of several highly topical references in a film that also includes a dig at Amy Fisher, whose name is misspelled. That may be the point.

"Addams Family Values" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It includes sexual references and mild violence, neither of which should deter older children. Addams Family Values Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; written by Paul Rudnick, based on characters created by Charles Addams; director of photography, Donald Peterman; edited by Arthur Schmidt and Jim Miller; music by Marc Shaiman; production designer, Ken Adam; produced by Scott Rudin; released by Paramount Pictures. Running time: 93 minutes. This film is rated PG-13. Morticia Addams . . . Anjelica Huston Gomez Addams . . . Raul Julia Fester Addams . . . Christopher Lloyd Wednesday Addams . . . Christina Ricci Pugsley Addams . . . Jimmy Workman Debbie Jellinsky . . . Joan Cusack Granny . . . Carol Kane Pubert Addams . . . Kaitlyn and Kristin Hooper Joel Glicker . . . David Krumholtz Becky Granger . . . Christine Baranski Gary Granger . . . Peter MacNicol

Addams Family Values Review

01 Jan 1993

Addams Family Values

Oh, the ooky and the spooky and rather kooky movie version Addams family are back in an equally silly but funnier sequel, which has something more resembling a plot than its predecessor. Huston and Julia gleefully continue their suggestive sado-comedic teaming as tangoing twosome Morticia and Gomez, but the more satisfactory elements come from taking the focus away from them and the family pile.

This time around the gruesome goings-on chez Addams are augmented by the arrival of baby Pubert, played by a hapless pair of twins, wigged and moustachioed to look just like Gomez. A running gag involving attempts on the baby's life by put-out pubescents Wednesday (Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) prompts the engagement of a string of nannies, hurriedly culminating in Joan Cusack's Debbie, a serial-killer intent on snaring eligible Uncle Fester (Lloyd) after reading up on him in Lifestyles Of The Rich And Freakish. What Debbie does to and with Fester and how Wednesday and Pugsley get on at the squeaky clean, all-American summer camp to which they are dispatched to give the baby a chance of survival, make for the giggles in another extravagantly camp, highly stylised bit of nonsense.

Ricci and Workman are now too big to be cutely macabre, but the former is still the drollest character around, her determined deadpan delivery of perverse patter providing absurd hilarity in the Camp Chippewa scenario. Birth, marriage and an unfortunately timed Michael Jackson gag provide a reasonable mix of the satirical matter, and if ex-cinematographer Sonnenfeld is still more adept with production design and camera angles than narrative, he has the wit to give Huston room for her memorable moments. Classic it's not, but as an alternative to the gooier kids jollities, it's a scream.

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With the approaching release of Tim Burton ’s Wednesday on Netflix, it seemed the perfect time to dive back into the films that have become cherished classics for almost the last three decades. Both Barry Sonnenfeld ‘s The Addams Family and Addams Family Values are 90s staples and well-received additions to the Addams franchise. And where The Addams Family delivered its world-building, Addams Family Values delivers not only a new member to the family but also brings the Addamses into a broader world beyond the confines of their mansion.

For Addams Family Values , there is less internal world-building, effectively working off the setting and design crafted by the first film. And while the plot of Addams Family Values is also very elementary, it is highly enjoyable to take the seemingly impossible one step further. It is as relatable as it is entertaining, and definitely a prime example that not all sequels are dead on arrival.

Continued World Building for a New Bundle

While Addams Family Values does not focus as heavily on its internal world-building as the first film, it utilizes it brilliantly in the film’s beginning, both reemerging us within the world of the Addams family, as well as reintroducing us to each of its beloved characters. Where the first film introduced them together, here Addams Family Values sections them off, speaking to the division the family will experience throughout the film. First, we are reunited with Fester ( Christopher Lloyd ) howling at the moon, his shadowed form in the moonlight creating a reminiscent silhouette of Nosferatu. As the camera moves towards the cemetery, Wednesday ( Christina Ricci ), Pugsley ( Jimmy Workman ) and Granny ( Judith Malina ) are seen giving burial rites – Wednesday shaking the box to show her audience the cat is still alive inside.

As calming as the opening is, it picks up its pace as audiences are reunited with Gomez ( Raul Julia ) and Morticia ( Angelica Huston ). As Morticia announces she is in labor, the film takes on a faster editing style than the first film, leaning heavily into the chaos of childbirth. Further breaking away from the editing of the original, Addams Family Value s also leans more heavily into its editing and filming choices of quickly zooming into close-ups of our characters before they deliver specific lines. It’s in these moments the film is at its cheesiest, but also its more welcoming. It is as if each of these characters in these moments is speaking to us, welcoming us further into the narrative and the world they encompass.

As a new Addams joins the ranks, each member of the family reacts differently to Pubert ( Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper ) – the most humorous being Wednesday and Pugsley’s attempts to eliminate the youth given his. As the family interacts with the baby, and we see their continued customs, the world-building here expands. But not just with the arrival of little Pubert, but for the world outside the Addams mansion.

Branching Out

Following the manipulation of Dr. Pinder-Schloss ( Elizabeth Wilson ), Tully ( Dan Hedaya ), and Gordon (aka Fester) in the first film, The Addams Family briefly saw the Addams gang leave the mansion and venture into the world. As they traveled with their expulsion by Fester, they inhabited a small motel in the area. While their interactions with the outside world are limited, The Addams Family does give further world-building and breadth to the franchise in these moments it allows itself to expand. With Addams Family Values , it finds its strength in broadening its exposure further. Had the film stayed strictly within the confines of the Addams property, Addams Family Values would have become stifled and stunted.

Addams Family Values starts its expansion with Morticia’s childbirth in the hospital. As Pubert is brought into the world, so too are the Addamses. Where Pubert is the catalyst, the driving force of their expansion into the world is brought on by the arrival of Debbie ( Joan Cusack ), the latest in a string of nannies for the Addams children. Unbeknownst to them, she is the Black Widow, preying on rich men to trap them with marriage before killing them to take every last cent. Her latest sights are set on Fester. Though, not without its challenges.

The first to be thrust into the broader world is Pugsley and the always-suspicious Wednesday. Forced to attend summer camp, Wednesday, Pugsley and fellow camper Joel ( David Krumholtz ) provide the film with some of its funnier moments. With this change of setting, Addams Family Values also allows Wednesday a larger stage to shine and grow as a character. In the first film, she is the suspicious child, unsure of Fester’s true origin, and utilized many times as a means to drive the world-building of the Addams Family. Here, Wednesday may still be suspicious, but she has truly found her voice. And yes, our favorite Amanda Buckman ( Mercedes McNab ), girl scout entrepreneur, makes a return here, giving not only Wednesday a platform to use her voice, but to allow the film to seemingly showcase the generational acceptance the family as a whole encompasses.

With the children out of the way, Debbie is able to seduce Fester into marrying her and to never see his family again. While The Addams Family speaks to Fester’s already established worldly exposure, Debbie provides world-broadening to Fester in the avenues of love and partnership. While her intentions are devious and untrue, the feelings Fester has are not. And while she betrays him, and the entire family, Fester is given a new look on life and the prospect of love he never thought possible for himself.

While Christina Ricci ‘s Wednesday navigating the summer camp is a stand-out, it is Joan Cusack that makes this film the success that it is. Her monologue and PowerPoint presentation validating the behavior of Debbie is as memorable as it is qu0teable. And while she steals every scene she is in, it is the climax of the film that she truly owns. While the film can lean into corny at times, following predictable tropes and expectations, Cusack ‘s performance as Debbie truly elevates Addams Family Values into a sequel that can stand strong with its predecessor, as well as on its own.

Have you seen Addams Family Values ? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Daily Stream: Addams Family Values Is Not Only A Darkly Wonderful Family Film, It's Also A Truly Great Sequel

(Welcome to The Daily Stream , an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Addams Family Values" (1993)

Where You Can Stream It: Netflix

The Pitch: On paper, a sequel to an adaptation of a 1960s TV series should be a lifeless, by-the-numbers stale cash-in, but "Addams Family Values" took the success of the first movie and used that to up the pitch-black humor and weirdness to a level that most likely had movie execs sweating in their suits. A black widow killer, a baby with a mustache, and the most cheerfully horrendous summer camp ever ... this movie has everything!

Why It's Essential Viewing

It's hard to think of a film like this being made in the studio system today, but the early '90s was a very odd period for movies, particularly the bizarre sub-sub-subgenre that is comedic reboots of popular old TV shows. "The Addams Family" and "The Brady Bunch" are the prime examples and even though they don't fit exactly into this sub-sub-subgenre, SNL's "Coneheads" and "Wayne's World" feel of a piece to this kind of specific humor as well. They were all way better than they had any right to be and audiences ate them up.

I'm not over-exaggerating here. Everybody talked about these movies, everyone saw them, everyone loved them. For adults they were water cooler movies, for children playground talk movies.

These were event movies that were hugely successful in theaters and doubly so at the video stores. We're talking McDonalds tie-ins huge.

It helped that these movies were good. "The Addams Family" in particular took the zany 1960s TV show concept of a lovingly macabre family confounding the disturbingly normal world around them and ran with it, perfectly casting Raul Julia as Gomez Addams, Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams, Christopher Lloyd as Fester Addams, and Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams.

Add on to that lively direction from Barry Sonnenfeld, cutting edge visual effects (I remember multiple schoolyard conversations about how the sentient hand, known as Thing, effect was done. It couldn't be a puppet, but how could it just be someone's hand!?!), and an absolutely wonderful script full of double entendres, sharp-witted barbs, and a surprising amount of heart and you have two back-to-back miracle films.

Now, I love "The Addams Family." It's wonderfully idiosyncratic, super funny and charming, and delightfully dark, but I think I love "Addams Family Values" just a little bit more. Again, they're both miracles and the more time that passes since their release the more they stand out as anomalies, but if I had to choose a favorite I gotta go with "Values."

For one thing, the sequel has a better villain.

'Til Death Do Us Part

Joan Cusack's Debbie Jellinsky is cartoonishly evil and she'd be absolutely absurd in a more grounded world, but when pitted against the Addamses, her black widow killer character is on even playing ground. The first time around it was a story about someone trying to con the Addams family out of their fortune using what we think is a double of their long lost Uncle Fester (turns out it was the real Uncle Fester all along!) and this one's about kind of the same thing, but done with a way more sadistic approach.

Debbie is hired as a nanny for the newest addition to the family, a little mustachioed baby named Pubert. Let's take a second to bask in that name, shall we? Calling a bouncing baby boy (who was actually played by female twins, by the way) Pubert is about the funniest damn thing I can think of.

Now, Debbie ingratiates herself right away. She vibes with the family's dark humor and is ridiculously sexy, two big pluses for any outsider. Obviously her ulterior motives are easy to spot, but interestingly enough, that's part of the charm she has on the family. They like her dark side! Especially Fester.

The tragedy here is that Debbie would have fit right into the family if she wasn't so greedy. They saw her and accepted her when no one else in society would, but she was too caught up in her own ego and greed to let them bring her into the fold.

Her goal is to marry and murder Uncle Fester so she can inherit his chunk of the Addams fortune and boy does she try. Turns out these Addamses aren't easy to kill and Fester misinterprets all her attempts as part of their love language. This serial killer who is repulsed by her target only grows more and more frustrated as her attempts on his life only serve to deepen his crush even further.

Wednesday and Puglsey see right through Debbie at the start and Debbie uses her powers of persuasion to remove them from the situation, which gives us the whole subplot about the two dark weirdo kids going to rich-kid summer camp. Upon first viewing this was my favorite aspect of the movie, thanks in no small part to 12-year-old me falling head over heels in love with Wednesday Addams.

The True Faces of Evil

Looking back on it now, it's such a great middle finger to white privilege, portraying the smiling and cheerful Gary Granger and Becky Martin-Granger (Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski) as the creepiest things in a movie with a Frankenstein butler and a baby sitting under a falling guillotine. Both MacNicol and Baranski exude child beauty pageant mom energy and harbor so much bigotry for those at the school that are sick, people of color, or Jewish. Debbie may have tried to electrocute Uncle Fester in the bath, but she doesn't hold a candle to these frickin' weirdos.

In that way this section is so ahead of the curve. The whole thing culminates in a play about the first Thanksgiving, which is of course whitewashed to be very happy-go-lucky and certainly excludes any of the nasty genocide stuff that followed. 

Well, Wednesday has other plans for that and as darkly humorous as her hijacking of the play is, it's also the more accurate depiction of what those times were actually like.

They Don't Make 'Em Like This Anymore

Both of the "Addams Family" films hold up extremely well, in large part thanks to how dark the humor is, which makes them both unique examples of studio tentpole filmmaking. The fact that these are big family movies and were taken as such is the reason why they work. If they had done a dark, gritty, somber low-budget "Addams Family" it wouldn't have the same effect, because part of the joke is that the darkness and sexuality inherent in these characters (is there anything hotter than Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston dancing the tango?) is being served up as wholesome family entertainment.

We need more odd ducks like "The Addams Family" films in our popular filmmaking. I think the closest we got after these films were the " A Series of Unfortunate Events " adaptations and, frankly, that's just not enough. Kids today are spoiled with MCU, Pixar, and Laika films but it's not very often an "Addams" slips through and that's a damn shame.

Mutant Reviewers

A cult of cult movies, addams family values (1993).

“We’re not shy, we’re contagious.”

DnaError’s rating: Not contagious, just shy.

DnaError’s review: This is the rare sequel that’s better than the original . It’s tighter, goofier, with more one-liners and… much more Wednesday. Everything said about the first film is the same here. The great casting, the dark/fun look, the viciously funny one-liners. There is just MORE of it in a shorter time. And that’s a good thing.

The plot concerns the birth of the new Addams, the mustached Pubert. The other kids don’t take kindly to the new addition, and try to find away to get rid of him (Leading to one of the most-quoted lines in my life “Where did you put that baby!?” “Which part?”) Soon, a busty, cloying nanny named Debbie (Joan Cusak) arrives with evil intentions which leads to the doomy Addams kids shipped away to the sunny, fresh-air environment of summer camp.

The camp scenes are worth the price of rental alone. Anyone who was forced to endure the forced happiness and participation will delight in Wednesday’s sharp-tongued comments (“Why are you dressed like somebody died?” “Wait.”) The rest of the movie is funny, Joan Cusak especially as the queen-beotch Debbie (“Don’t I ache and yearn and SHOP?”) But it’s the camp’s ending that makes this movie.

Looking back, I’d recommend this movie over the original it’s got more jokes and doesn’t drag near the end. See this one first, then the original.

Justin’s rating: Why Halloween should come at least 3 times a year.

Justin’s review: Remember that pivotal scene in Scream 2 , when the film class busts their puny earthling brains to think of non-Star Wars and non-James Cameron sequels that rose to greater heights than their ancestors? Man, that scene got me SO mad, since I spent the rest of the week thinking of better sequels. I’d be in the middle of a nice morning constitution and think, “ Return of the Killer Tomatoes ! Much funnier than the first!” Then later “ Evil Dead 2 ! Star Trek 2 ! Leprechaun 4 !” would pop into mind, causing me to brake suddenly in the middle of rush hour highway traffic, and I’d have to explain to the cops and the grieving families that it was ALL SCREAM 2 ‘s FAULT!

Or Britney Spears, I always try to pin everything on one of those two.

Addams Family Values easily makes that list as well. For not only is it rare for a sequel to best its predecessor, just you try wracking your brain for comedy sequels that improve on the original. Ain’t many, huh? The Addams Family was an adequate ’90s “classic TV series to movie” transition that was the popular wave. Like its siblings (such as The Beverly Hillbillies or The Brady Bunch ), much of the humor not only came from updating the material, but also contrasting it with the modern world. Still, it lacked substance and character depth, no matter how wacked it tried to be.

For some wonderful reason, filmmakers got it so right the second time around. It veered away from that “we’re trying so haaaaard to make it ka-razy for you” feeling, and more into pure homogenized stinky fun.

The secret to the Addams clan is not that they’re dark and macabre to shock you into laughing; they could’ve easily started throwing gooey brains and severed body parts around for cheap laughs, but refrained from being crass. Instead, what makes me laugh is they’re sheer earnestness about such morbid subjects, always implied instead of showing. So when Wednesday and Pugsley have their new baby brother on the guillotine block and are reading him his death sentence, it doesn’t cause parents to snatch their children from the room as if the monkey from Outbreak came in for a visit — no, they themselves are trying to restrain giggles welling up from their chests. The Addams’ world is just so wrong, but I can’t help but think they’d be pretty keen as next door neighbors.

Here returns the savage love affair of Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston), continuing with their tengo del muerto, open in their affections as they are in some questionable bedroom routines. Here returns the kiddos, the naive Pugsly (Jimmy Workman) and the Queen of Straight Lines, Wednesday (Christina Ricci), along with their new baby brother Pubert (dude, is there a BETTER name for a kid than that?). Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) makes time with the new homicidal nanny (Joan Cusack), and Lurch, Thing and Grandma all make an appearance. Even the house is back, about 40 stories tall and complete with the torture room package.

In the midst of this already good movie is one of the most hilarious comedic subplots in cinema history: Pugsly and Wednesday are booted off to a gleaming summer camp. So far out of their element as to render Wednesday’s thumbscrews powerless, the kids make a stand for true freaky weirdness. It’s not easy, as most of the other camp residents are insanely cheerful, bubbly rich airheads. More than once are the Addams siblings sent to the Harmony Hut (which has, in the best sight gag of the film, posters of Michael Jackson) due to their anarchist attitudes.

Eventually they lead a revolt with some of the other camp outcasts — by changing the history of Thanksgiving, no less. I remember seeing this in the theater and practically howling with laughter by the time the kids leave the camp… it’s just that good.

It’s fast-paced, has enough subplots to satisfy most of you A.D.D. freaks, and is really, really one of the funniest movies from the 90s. Addams Family Values also manages to be an equal opportunity film; after all, who among us lacks the dark side that would love to bring a coffin to kindergarten for nap time? Man to man (yo), get this.

Intermission!

• Director Barry Sonnenfeld cameos as Mr. Glicker
• The Addams Family was the brainchild of Charles Addams (1912-1988). His comics spawned The Addams Family sitcom, which ran from 1964 to 1966, starring John Astin, Carolyn Jones and the paw of a dead monkey that would grant you three backfiring wishes. The Addams Family returned in cartoon form between 1973 and 1975 (and would have another cartoon reincarnation in the late 90s). While Raul Julia’s death in 1994 and the rising stardom of Christina Ricci would prevent any more sequels with this movie cast, “Addams Family Reunion” came out straight to video in 1998 with Tim Curry and Daryl Hannah replacing the lead roles.
• The score is great, particularly the tango sequence. And if memory serves me right, a McHammer song is playing as Cousin It exits his car.

Groovy Quotes

Young Girl: … and then Mommy kissed Daddy, and the angel told the stork, and the stork flew down from heaven, and put the diamond in the cabbage patch, and the diamond turned into a baby! Pugsley: Our parents are having a baby too. Wednesday: They had sex.

Amanda: [practicing lifesaving swims] I’ll be the victim! Wednesday: All your life.

Debbie: These Addams men, where do you find them? Morticia: It has to be damp.

Pugsley: We don’t hug. Gary: Oh, you’re just shy. Wednesday: We’re not shy, we’re contagious.

Amanda: Why are you dressed like somebody died? Wednesday: Wait.

Gomez: Children, why do you hate the baby? Pugsley: We don’t hate him. We just wanna play with him. Wednesday: Especially his head.

Gomez: [to Fester] You’l meet someone. Someone very special. Someone who won’t press charges.

Debbie: Don’t I yearn? And ache? And shop? Don’t I deserve love? And jewelry?

Delivery Room Doctor: Would you like some anesthesia? Morticia: No, but do ask the children.

Debbie: I just adore little babies. I just want to grab them and squeeze them until there’s not a breath left in their tiny little bodies!

Fester: My name is Fester. It means “to rot”. Dementia: My name is Dementia. It means “madness”.

If you liked this movie, try these:

• The Addams Family
• The Brady Bunch Movie
• Beetlejuice

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Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews

Addams Family Values Parent Guide

The Addams Family began it's very early life as a print cartoon in the upscale New Yorker magazine. But the family really found it's place in society as a weekly television series some thirty years ago.

Release date November 20, 1993

Run Time: 94 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by rod gustafson.

The Addams are opposite in every way. In the same vein as Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street, the Addams like things gloomy and are happiest when life is on the brink of death. Unlike Oscar, and unlike their rather innocent television series, today’s Addams get joy in doing things that are beyond funny, and are in plain poor taste.

The first portion of the movie has the two older Addam’s children, Wednesday and Pugsley, trying to kill their new baby brother, Pubert. Dropping him from the attic window followed by an attempt to cut his head off should give children in the audience new ideas for venting distress on their siblings.

If movies that lack respect for the value of life offend you, then don’t put your time into the Addam’s Family. The adult situations are problem enough, but with all the concern in the world about physical abuse to children, you may not find the scenes of a newborn baby about to fall to its death funny. Funny, neither did I.

About author

Rod Gustafson

The most recent home video release of addams family values movie is february 23, 2000. here are some details….

ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES

What You Need To Know:

(LL, VVV, SS, N, OOO, M, Ab) 1 explicit profanity, several near profanities, one gross obscenity, & a few mild obscenities; children drop cannonball on baby, children drop guillotine on baby, children drop baby from roof of house, children burn camp, children start to burn girl at stake, woman tries to electrocute husband, woman tries to bomb husband, woman tries to electrocute family, & extreme, graphic violence in scene at camp when pandemonium breaks loose; sadomasochism, sadism, perverse sex suggested, & fornication suggested but camera cuts away; cleavage; occult references in word & deed throughout the movie; deceit with intent to murder someone under guise of marriage; and, blasphemy and mocking Christianity.

More Detail:

ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES exhibits macabre humor on one level, but on another, the film perfectly illustrates several “how to’s” in doing away with one’s victim. The movie, like its predecessor, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, turns tradition upside down, spoofing cherished rituals and beliefs and dwelling instead on the dark, evil side of life. As the movie opens, Morticia has Baby Pubert who, with his mustache, looks exactly like his father. The other children, Wednesday and Pugsley, are jealous of the baby and try several times to kill him. Uncle Fester falls in love with the Nanny, Debbie. She, in turn, sends the children to summer camp to get them out of the way for her diabolical plans.

Despite the considerable black humor in the film, the movie presents a dark, twisted view of life. Especially disturbing are the supposedly funny scenes when Wednesday and Pugsley attempt to kill the baby by dropping him from heights and by guillotining him. If children imitate these scenes (and probably some may try), there may be no one to save the hapless infant like there is in the film. Also, the emphasis on the occult and demon powers is distressing. Furthermore, God is blasphemed, and Christianity is mocked. When the campers sing “Cum Bya, My Lord,” the song is considered punishment.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

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Addams family values.

• Parents say (6)
• Kids say (30)

Based on 6 parent reviews

Movie drags and is quite sexual in parts (ok for teens, but kids might get embarrass)

This title has:

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Kind of boring - tame enough for 5 year old - no 'sex scene', not what i expected.

20 facts you might not know about 'The Addams Family'

Posted: April 4, 2024 | Last updated: April 4, 2024

They’re creepy, and they’re kooky. There’s no denying that. The Addams Family put Tim Burton to shame when it comes to Gothic spookiness. In 1991, the family Addams hit the big screen, bringing their distinct style and sense of the macabre. But would there be an audience for that? We’ve got 20 altogether kooky facts about The Addams Family you might not know.

It began with a comic

Charles Addams’ first single-panel comic featuring the family that would come to bear his name debuted in  The New Yorker way back in 1938. There’s only so much you can do with a single panel of a comic, even when you do over 150 of them, so Addams took things to the next level with a TV series in the 1960s. This show is what really paved the way for the film.

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Fox wanted to make the movie, but couldn’t

20th Century Fox were hoping to make an Addams Family film, but there was a snag. Orion owned some of the rights because they were planning to reboot the TV show and wouldn’t sell them. Meanwhile, Charles Addams’ widow also owned some rights that were needed for the film. Eventually, it’s Orion who bought the remaining rights from the widow Addams, and they went forward on the film.

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You’ll never guess who was asked to direct

Yes, Tim Burton was asked to direct The Addams Family . However, he turned it down. Burton was already working on Batman Returns and did not have the time to take on another project.

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It was the director’s debut

Barry Sonnenfeld had served as a cinematographer on movies such as the first three Coen Brothers films, as well as  Big  and When Harry Met Sally… , among others. He got the chance for a promotion with The Addams Family , as this marked his feature directing debut.

A Burton connection remained

Tim Burton may not have directed, but a project like The Addams Family certainly attracted a type. Caroline Thompson was one of the two credited writers. Her debut screenplay was Edward Scissorhands , and she also wrote on The Nightmare Before Christmas later. The other screenwriter was Larry Wilson, who wrote Beetlejuice .

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Two family members got swapped

In the Addams Family TV show, Fester is Morticia’s uncle, and Grandmama is Gomez’s mother. However, in this film, Fester is Gomez’s brother and Grandmama becomes Morticia’s mom. This has been the accepted canon ever since.

Huston was not expecting to get the role, but was happy to do so

Huston was a fan of Morticia, the matriarch of the Addams clan, and thus really wanted the role. However, she did not expect to be cast. In her mind, Cher was perfect for the role, and she expected Cher to get it. In the end, though, it was Huston’s role.

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Not that it was a fun time for Huston

Maybe this was a case of be careful what you wish for. In her autobiography, Huston said shooting the movie was “long and arduous.” For some reason, it was decided that Morticia’s eyes would slant upwards. To make this happen, an elastic strap was attached to the back of her head and glued to her temples. It was incredibly uncomfortable for her, and she had to take them off at lunch to avoid a rash and a headache. This led to hours in the makeup chair to fix everything, making it quite the vicious cycle for Huston.

Raul Julia didn’t have it much better

While filming the movie, Raul Julia had a blood vessel burst in his eye. They had to shoot around Julia while he recovered, which was probably a little tricky given that Julia was playing Gomez.

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One actor had their own coping mechanism

Judith Malina, who played Grandmama, was doing 12-hour days while caked in latex. That was probably tough, but Huston said that Malina had a means of managing the discomfort during the shoot. She would apparently just smoke one joint after another in her trailer whenever she wasn’t needed on set.

Sonnenfeld had to pull double duty for a time

As production was heading toward wrapping up, director of photography Owen Roizman quit the film. Gale Tattersall was hired to replace him. Then, a few weeks later, Tatersall had to be rushed to the hospital. While Tatersall was recovering, Sonnenfeld put on his old hat and served as cinematographer while still directing. Shockingly, the movie ended up running over schedule.

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The actors changed the ending

Originally, Sonnenfeld didn’t want to reveal if the real Uncle Fester had returned, or if he was still an impostor. The actors were not fans of this decision. They deputized Christina Ricci – perhaps thinking Sonnenfeld might find it hard to say no to a little kid – to share their concern with the director. Sonnenfeld agreed to change the ending, and was ultimately happy with the decision.

The Mamushka scene was cut down

Originally, the Mamushka dance scene involved a full song to go along with the dance and was a much longer scene. Test audiences thought that this really dragged, so the Mamushka was cut down considerably, though it was restored for an extended-version DVD.

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Orion sold off the film during production

The Addams Family had gone $5 million over budget, and Orion was worried about having a flop on their hands. They actually had suffered a series of flops and were not feeling good financially. As such, while the film was still in production, Orion sold the domestic rights to the film to Paramount. Neither studio told the filmmakers, who found out through a journalist.

It had a very 1991 theme song

MC Hammer was contracted to produce a theme song to The Addams Family , and he obliged on that front. The “U Can’t Touch This” legend gave us “Addams Groove.” He also made a music video, which was shown prior to the film in theaters.

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The movie proved to be a hit

It turned out that Orion didn’t have anything to fear. Yes, the production was a mess and went over budget, but The Addams Family turned out to be a big success. The movie ended up making $191.5 million against a $30 million budget, with $113.5 million of that coming in the United States, where Paramount had the rights.

It was nominated for a few awards

Huston gutted it out through all that elastic and glue to get nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The movie also got an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design. It wound up winning a couple awards, one good, one not so much. The Addams Family took home Favorite Movie at the Kids Choice Awards, but “Addams Groove” also won a Razzie for Worst Original Song.

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There were some game tie-ins

A tie-in video game came out in 1992 as well. You play as Gomez and have to rescue your family. The game came out for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, and  The Addams Family was received much better than Fester’s Quest , considered one of the worst video games ever. There was also a pinball game that became quite successful. In fact, the Addams Family pinball machine became the best-selling pinball machine of all time.

There was a sequel

After the success of The Addams Family , a sequel was quickly greenlit by Paramount. Addams Family Values came out in 1993 and was once again directed by Sonnenfeld. A lot of people think it is better, quality-wise, but it wasn’t as successful in the box office. With a budget of $47 million, Addams Family Values made $111 million.

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This was Raul Julia’s favorite role

Julia said that was playing Gomez was by far his favorite role, and he loved when fans told him how much they loved his work in the Addams Family movies. Sadly, the actor died in 1994 at the age of 54. His family said that at the end of his life, as he was dealing with his illness, the love he got for playing Gomez really bolstered his spirits.

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