Anytime someone asks for an example of a sequel that was better than the original, the first film I will mention is Addams Family Values. While the first film had it's moments, this film is just one belly laugh followed by another, powered by a fantastic cast firing on all cylinders. In particular Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams and Joan Cusack as new nanny (and Black Widow) Debbie Jillinsky. The two of them absolutely steal the show.
The film opens with Morticia (played by Anjelica Huston) announcing to her husband, Gomez (played by Raul Julia) that she's going to have a baby right now. We cut to the usual birth scene, but in a clever subversion, Morticia is loving every minute of it and hardly breaking a sweat the entire time. Soon enough a new member of the Addams clan is born, a mustachioed baby named Pubert. However, Wednesday and Pugsley (played by Jimmy Workman) are not getting along with the new baby, devising ways of "playing" with him that involve such stunts as dropping from the roof or a guillotine. Enter their new nanny, Debbie (played by Joan Cusack).
It's quickly revealed that Debbie is in fact a Black Widow, she marries rich men and murders them shortly after marrying them and collects their wealth. She is eyeing Uncle Fester (played by Christopher Lloyd) for her latest payday. However, she did not count on the formidable foe that is Wednesday, who is on to her almost immediately. Wanting to get Wednesday and Pugsley out of the way, Debbie convinces Gomez and Morticia to send them to Summer Camp.
This is where the two storylines diverge into two parallel stories. One, has Wednesday and Pugsley raising hell at Camp Chippewa against the rich snobs that populate the camp, including the two camp directors, Gary Granger (played by Peter MacNichol) and his wife Becky Martin-Granger (played by Christine Baranski), with popular girl Amanda Buckman (played by Mercedes McNab) getting the brunt of Wednesday's biting, dead pan sarcasm. While there, she also meets fellow camp outcast Joel Glicker (played by David Krumholtz). He's allergic to almost everything and collects serial killer trading cards (he's only missing Jack the Ripper and that Zodiac guy). Because of this, Wednesday finds him endearing and feels the first pangs of romance.
Meanwhile, Debbie has managed to seduce Uncle Fester into marrying her, putting her plan into action. Of course, offing the poor lug proves to be harder than she anticipated. Instead, she makes him her slave and in exchange for sex, makes him swear never to see the rest of his family again. This sets Gomez into a spiral of despair that even Morticia can't free him from and the family is left in shambles.
Wednesday hears of this and is determined to escape the camp and return home to help put her family right. In order to do so she, along with the other camp outcasts, sabotage the camp play, a wildly inaccurate and racist play depicting the first Thanksgiving written by Gary, the Camp Director. Wednesday, cast in the role of Pocahontas, re-writes history, telling Amanda, in the starring role on the Pilgrims side, that she has heard from her Gods not to trust the Pilgrims and to burn their village to the ground. Wednesday's co-conspirators, proceed to do just that and burn down the sets. Wednesday and Pugsley escape in the ensuing chaos. They make their way home for the family's final confrontation with Debbie. Of course, at this point it becomes abundantly clear the if she wasn't so materialistic and self absorbed, Debbie actually would fit in quite well with this crew.
I have to say that I adore this movie. It is a hysterical movie, with joke following joke in rapid succession. I watch it at least once a year around Thanksgiving time, for obvious reasons. Even though both Christina Ricci and Joan Cusack stand out in this film, routinely stealing their scenes, the entire cast is firing on all cylinders. Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia make a fantastic Morticia and Gomez, so much so that I feel bittersweet pangs wishing Raul Julia hadn't died so we could've gotten a proper third film. The film has a consistent flow of madcap macabre humor flowing through it which is executed perfectly by director Barry Sonnenfeld and writer Paul Rudnick. The whole thing is so gloriously over the top and I love every minute of it. It's the exceedingly rare comedy sequel that is not only as good as, but far surpasses the original, with fantastic jokes and wicked satire.
Addams Family Values is currently available on Netflix and Amazon Prime for your viewing pleasure this Holiday Weekend.
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