Addams Family Values (1993)

Editor's Note In ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES, Barry Sonnenfeld has performed the remarkable feat of making a sequel even more entertaining than its predecessor. The charmingly creepy Addams family (based on characters originally created by the morbid Charles Addams) have two new additions, mustachioed baby Pubert and sunny nanny Debbie Jellinsky. While Debbie (wonderfully played by Joan Cusack) charms the adults of the family, particularly Uncle Fester, the children discover that she is actually a serial killer called the Black Widow. The children are soon shipped off to summer camp as part of nanny dearest's diabolical plot. It's at Camp Chippewa that some of the funniest scenes occur, particularly one in which Wednesday tells genuinely terrifying ghost stories to the other campers and another that features both Addams children being sent the Harmony Hut as punishment for trying to escape. Sonnenfeld and production designer Ken Adams (no relation) make sure that each minute is a pleasure to look at by creating a feast of dark visions and macabre sight gags. ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES will be most enjoyed by those with a taste for flip gallows humor.

	Carol Kane
	Raul Julia
	Carel Struycken
	Christopher Lloyd
	Chris Ellis
	Christina Ricci
	Jimmy Workman
	Joan Cusack
	Anjelica Huston
	Arthur Schmidt - Editor
	Barry Sonnenfeld - Director

Morticia and Gomez Addams (Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia) couldn't be more pleased with the newest additions to the family, mustachioed baby Pubert and perky nanny Debbie (Joan Cusack). Less pleased are siblings (and rivals) Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), who want to rid themselves of the infant usurper while investigating the truth behind Debbie's exterior. Before the children can prove that Debbie is a homicidal maniac called the Black Widow--out to add Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) to her collection of corpses--they are banished to summer camp. Can the Addams family survive the murderess and Kumbaya? New York Times
"...Glee on the screen....Buoyant in absurd, wonderful ways..." 11/19/1993 p.C3

Premiere
"...Inspired dementia..." - Recommended 06/01/1994 p.120

Sight and Sound
"...Wholly wonderful performances by Joan Cusack...and Christina Ricci, whose blank-faced strangeness is used to even better effect than in the first film..." 02/01/1994 p.44-5

Entertainment Weekly
"...[Julia is] picture-perfect..." 11/04/1994 p.81