Addams Family Values (1993)

Director:

Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers (WGA):

Charles Addams (characters)
Paul Rudnick (written by)

Release Date:

19 November 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

The Family Just Got A Little Stranger.

Plot:

A comical Gothic horror-movie-type family tries to rescue their beloved uncle from his gold-digging new love.

Plot Keywords:

Nanny | Uncle Fester | Summer Camp | Love | Baby

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Anjelica Huston	...	Morticia Addams
Raul Julia	...	Gomez Addams
Christopher Lloyd	...	Uncle Fester Addams
Joan Cusack	...	Debbie Jellinsky
Christina Ricci	...	Wednesday Addams
Carol Kane	...	Grandma
Jimmy Workman	...	Pugsley Addams
Kaitlyn Hooper	...	Pubert Addams
Kristen Hooper	...	Pubert Addams
Carel Struycken	...	Lurch
David Krumholtz	...	Joel Glicker
Christopher Hart	...	Thing
Dana Ivey	...	Margaret Addams
Peter MacNicol	...	Gary Granger
Christine Baranski	...	Becky Martin-Granger

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for macabre humor.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:10 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Wednesday bitterly quips that "Chippewa" in Camp Chippewa means "orphan". This is pure sarcasm; Chippewa is actually a form of the name Ojibwa (a Native American nation), the original meaning of which is unknown.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Wenesday and Pugsley are about to use the guillotine when playing with Pubert, Wednesday rolls up her scroll during her line "Justice is served" right when the watermelon is chopped in two. In the next shot, it is back to being unrolled and she rolls it up again during her line: "Bring forward the evil one".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Wednesday: [giving a funeral to a cat in a shoe-box] Come, sorrow; we welcome thee. Let us join in grief, rejoice in despair, and honor the fortunate dead.
Grandma: Dearly beloved...
Wednesday: [the cat mews and Wednesday shakes the box] Shh! Quiet!
Grandma: [starts piling dirt on the box]

Movie Connections:

References Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Soundtrack:

Express Yourself

Very funny

Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty) takes a zany script written by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey, In and Out) and directs with an exhilarating rhythm to tell the tale of Uncle Fester's marriage to a suspicious young nanny (Joan Cusack) and its effect on the Addams family.

All the actors are absolutely wonderful but Cusack steals the movie with a gleefully nasty turn as the murderous Debbie. Her without-peer comedic talent is more strongly showcased here -watch the scene when Debbie sits in a car waiting for a house to explode- than in her award winning role as Kevin Kline's jilted bride in In and Out. Angelica Huston and Raoul Julia are magnetic in dramatic roles but they also have sensational comic timing and their Morticia and Gomez make a memorable dark-humored pair, most notably in the scenes where the sexual innuendo takes a front-row seat. Peter MacNichol (Ally McBeal) and Christine Baranski (The Ref) have a ball as the irritating summer camp counslers and Christina Ricci will probably never top her performance as Wednesday.

It's a guilty pleasure and a fun ride, zipping by in an hour and a half and also features a hilarious cameo by Peter Graves (Airplane). Check it out!