Today's Cinema Sunday post is about the live action films featuring the Addams Family than came out in the 1990s. Andrea and saw those in the theater when they came out and recently we re-watched them with our daughter Randie and our dog Rosie.
The Addams Family is based on the characters from the cartoon created by cartoonist Charles Addams and the 1964 TV series and was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (who would go on to direct the Men In Black films).
The film stars Anjelica Huston, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance as Morticia Addams, Raul Julia as Gomez Addams, and Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester. The film focuses on a bizarre, macabre, aristocratic family who reconnect with who they believe to be a long-lost relative, Gomez's brother Fester Addams, who is actually the adopted son of a loan shark intending to swindle the Addams clan out of their vast wealth and fortune.
The plot (such as it is) centers around the 25 year absence of Fester Addams. After all these years, Gomez is still heartbroken over their falling out and longs to reunite with his beloved brother.
Gomez's lawyer Tully Alford is heartbroken over owing a ton of money to loan shark/con artist Abigail Craven and longs to get some of the vast Addams family's wealth to pay her off.
A fortuitous resemblance of Abigail's son Gordon to Fester prompts the hatching of a scheme. Gordon as Fester will get back into the good graces of Gomez Addams and locate the secret vault where Gomez keeps the family's wealth.
Abigail poses as a German psychiatrist named Dr. Greta Pinder-Schloss and tells the family that Fester had been lost in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 25 years until she found him in some tuna nets, stricken with amnesia.
Gomez is suspicious of "Fester" who is unable to recall important details about their past. Gomez's wife Morticia reminds "Fester" of the importance of family among the Addamses and of their vengeance against those who cross them.
Gordon grows closer to the Addams family, particularly the children Wednesday and Pugsley. It is a familial affection that Abigail does not care for, wanting only for Gordon to find the hidden vault.
Tully learns that as the elder brother, Fester is the executor of the Addams estate and therefore technically owns the entire property. Arranging a restraining order against the family, Tully has the family evicted from the house. This leaves Abigail, Gordon and Tully time to locate the vault and get past the booby traps protecting it.
Meanwhile, the Addamses are forced to move into a motel and find jobs. For instance, Morticia tries to be a preschool teacher. It does not go well.
Gomez grows increasingly depressed.
Abigail captures Morticia and threatens to kill her if Gomez does not give up the family fortune.
Fed up with his mother's behavior and constant berating, Gordon rebels against Abigail using a magical book that repels Tully and Abigail out of the house and into open graves dug for them by Wednesday and Pugsley.
Abigail's story that she found Fester in some tuna nets, stricken with amnesia was actually true. Gordon was really Fester all along.
With the Addams family reunited and whole once again, Morticia tells Gomez she's pregnant.
The birth of the new Addams baby kicks off the sequel, Addams Family Values (1993). After the birth of Pubert (yes, they really named him that), the parents watch over the child in his crib with one of the funniest exchanges ever.
Gomez: "Oh look! He has your father's eyes!"
Morticia: "Oh, get those of out of his mouth!"
Wednesday and Pugsley keep trying to murder their infant brother so Gomez and Morticia Addams hire a nanny to keep them from doing that.
The nanny they select is Debbie Jellinsky who is, of course, a serial killer. Her thing is to marry rich bachelors and murder them for their money. And Li'l Debbie has her eye on Uncle Fester.
Wednesday is suspicious of Debbie. So Debbie tricks Gomez and Morticia into sending Wednesday and Pugsley to summer camp.
Oh dear God, no! NO! Not summer camp!!!
Camp Chippewa is super white washed camp experience managed by ridiculously chipper Gary and Becky Granger who are really big on conformity. Wednesday has zero fucks to give about Gary and Becky so they try to break her spirit by locking her in the Harmony Hut and forced to watch Disney movies.
It seems to work when Wednesday shakily leaves the cabin, smiling and offering to participate in camp activities.
Don't worry. Wednesday has a plan to unleash hell!
Meanwhile, Debbie has gotten married to Fester while forbidding him to see his family again. He's reluctant to agree but he does because he's never had sex before and it turns out sex is great!
Debbie proceeds to kill Fester.
Correction: Debbie proceeds to try to kill Fester. Repeatedly.
She blows up their entire mansion home just to find Fester standing in the smoldering ruins, patiently waiting for his wife and for more sexy times.
Things happen as Fester, Wednesday and Puggsley reunite with the rest of the family at the Addams estate.
But Debbie has had it UP TO HERE with Fester and this whole crazy bunch.
Debbie straps the family to electric chairs, explaining how she killed her parents and previous husbands for incredibly selfish and materialistic reasons.
While facing mortal danger, the Addamses are nonetheless sympathetic to Debbie's tale.
Thanks to baby Pubert (really!), Debbie's attempt to electrocute the Addams family backfires, reducing Debbie to a pile of ash and smoldering credit cards.
Both Addams Family movies are extended sight gags, taking the stereotype of the American nuclear family and reversing the polarity, normalizing the macabre. The plots of both movies center around "normal" people trying to scam their way into the Addams family wealth using Fester in some way.
What makes both movies worth the trouble are the extraordinary performances of the actors involved.
Raul Julia is a perfect Gomez Addams, a man of action and passion, a romantic at heart who will quickly take tempered steel in hand to defend his family. Sadly, Raul Julia was quite ill during the filming of Addams Family Values and died in 1994.
Angelica Houston inhabits Morticia Adams with a serene sensuality, her eyes preternaturally wide. It was an effect that was achieved in the worst way. Apparently, there were straps affixed to the back of Houston's head to pull her face and her eyes into that strange and alluring composition. Per Angelica Houston's account, yes, it hurt.
The standout performance in both movies is Christina Ricci as Wednesday. Ricci was 11 years old when the first Addams Family movie was made. Her deadpan delivery of Wednesday's most ominous observations and her most chilling threats made her a force to be reckoned with. The highlight for Wednesday is her violent uprising against the privileged kids and counselors at Camp Chippewa in the sequel.
Here's a video compilation of some of Wednesday's best moments.
Addams Family was Barry Sonnenfeld's first time as a director and the sheer stress of directing a major motion picture made him sick.
Cost overruns on the production made the movie studio Orion sick with worry as well. So they sold the movie to Paramount who finished the movie, released it and made a bunch of movie when the film did well at the box office which I'm sure made Orion fill sick all over again.
Both films are fun diversions for a Halloween theme movie night. They are slight confections saved by gorgeous sets designs and really good acting performances.
Next week, Cinema Sunday returns to the filmography of the Marx Brothers.
Until next time, stay safe, be good to one another and sit down, we're watching a movie here!
No comments:
Post a Comment