Die Addams Family

The Addams Family has had a death... Fester Addams. But lo and behold, their lawyer knows a man who resembles Fester and if he passes the impostor off, could gain access to the family vault, full of treasures untold. But can the fake Fester survive the family's maniacal games?

I don't have much experience with older incarnations of the Addams Family. So, I can't make an educated comparison. However, this film excels in every way: macabre, humorous and just plain eccentrically absurd. The casting is also amazing... Raul Julia in the performance of his career, and Christopher Lloyd in a very offebeat role even for him.

This was a breakout performance for Christina Ricci (playing Wednesday Addams). Sure, it possibly typecast her into weird roles ("Casper", "Sleepy Hollow", "Pumpkin") but this is, beyond a doubt, where she fits. She can do drama ("Monster", "Black Snake Moan") but will always be America's goth girl.

This film's dark humor is family appropriate -- cartoon violence, no nudity and marginal language. They simply do not make films like this anymore. Full credit must be given to the writer and director for bringing this family to life in a way that just cannot be repeated. Well, aside from the sequel.

For some reason, the 90's and early 2000's were a bit of a heyday when it came to contemporary adaptations of kitschy old TV-shows and stories. Everything from "The Flintstones" to "Charlie's Angels"... from "The Brady Bunch" to "Dudley Do-Right"... they all got remade, rebooted and re-imagined for then-modern audiences. But strangely, almost all of them were redone in typically either a self-satirical or self-deprecating way. Almost like the filmmakers were ashamed of the properties they were meant to be paying tribute to. But one particular film among them stands out for doing quite the opposite. For creating a respectful, honorable and faithful adaptation that kept changes to a necessary minimum while simply delivering a bigger and wilder version of what came before.

And oddly enough... that film was "The Addams Family", directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and released in 1991. Loosely inspired by the original comics of creator Charles Addams, while taking many cues and nods from the beloved 1960's sitcom, Sonnenfeld crafted a delicious and delightful comedic throwback that's filled to burst with classic Addams humor... with dark visual references, creepy double-entendres and plenty of cynical gallows humor gags. All the while, treating audiences to top-notch visuals and fantastic comedic turns from an all-star cast. "The Addams Family" might not be a perfect film... but it's darned entertaining and is a great riff on a classic piece of source material.

The very creepy and kooky Addams Family is getting along fine, though Gomez Addams (the late and great Raul Julia) still laments the disappearance of his brother Fester 25 years earlier. But things take an interesting turn when the Addams' lawyer Tully (Dan Hedaya) ends up in too deep with devious loan shark Abigail (Elizabeth Wilson)... Out of time, Tully hatches a plan to pay off his debt- To disguise Abigail's oafish son Gordon (Christopher Lloyd) as the long-lost Fester, of whom he is the spitting image, so that he can infiltrate the Addams clan and discover their secret vault, which holds an immense treasure. Gordon is welcomed "back" into the clan under the pretense of suffering amnesia. Though the more time he spends with the devilish family, the more he grows attached to them, and the more he doubts he'll be able to go through with the plan...

The peculiar thing about both this film and it's immediate follow-up "Addams Family Values" is that in many ways, they come across more as a series of clever but only tenuously connected vignettes than as singular, cohesive narratives... and yet, they both function quite well. The story lines are kept almost as an after-thought and only serve the basis of building and contriving funny situations to find our heroes in. And I think it actually works better this way given the nature of the material. The humor of the Addams Family was almost always about contrast and subversion of modern American ideals. And structuring the film in such a way to base much of the humor on almost random interactions with standard members of middle-class culture was a good way to go. It keeps the pacing light and refreshing, and only bogs itself down with the intricacies of plot and character development when needed.

Visually, the film is a delightfully Gothic masterwork of manic energy thanks to Sonnenfeld's breezy and slick cinematography and use of movement and flow. It's got an energy to it that's all its own, and feels unique and even special in a weird way. This is complimented by the remarkable and even awe-inspiring set and costume design and Marc Shaiman's fabulous score, which incorporates that classic theme we all know and love and makes good use of it for varying levels of humor and suspense.

And then there's the cast. My lord, this is just an exceptional ensemble of performers. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston frequently steal the show as the demented obsessive lovers Gomez and Mortitia, and their chemistry is out of this world. Particularly admirable is the childlike energy Julia exudes in every scene. Lloyd is a blast and a half as the would-be Fester, and he really nails the character in the best of ways. Jimmy Workman, Carel Struycken and Judith Malina round out the clan in fine supporting roles. And then- newcomer Christina Ricci is a complete joy as the sardonic daughter Wednesday in a wonderful performance. Hedaya and Wilson also do quite well as our devious and bumbling villains, and have some good scenes to shine.

In all honesty, it's really hard to say anything critical of the film, because so much of it feels like it's accomplishing and excelling at every goal it sets out to achieve. And yet, there's just something about it that holds it just shy of perfection. Mainly lying in the intrusions of plot that pop in now and again and feel tacked on, and the fact that the film does feel very short and sometimes rushed. There's just some very small squabbles I have that are noticeable enough to hold it back a teeny bit. But even beyond those minor issues, I can't help but give "The Addams Family" a whole- hearted recommendation. It's fantastically fun and darkly hilarious, and I love every single second of it. And so I give it a very good 8 out of 10!

A good, nay great, movie version to the classic 60s series. Raul Julia is great as Gomez, as is Christopher Lloyd as Fester. The story is sound, pretty much better than the sequel. This is a comedy with slightly dark themes, but that doesn't mean the family can not enjoy it. Barry Sonnenfeld is a genius.

Generally, speaking this a pretty "fun movie" for most people, kids and adults. I think "fun" is the adjective most people would use in describing this film.

As one who remembered the television series, I thought I would check this out, too. Angelica Huston certainly didn't match Carolyn Jones' beauty but she, along with Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd and Christinia Ricci all were entertaining to watch.

There certainly were no end to the colorful imagines, unique scenes and dialog, special-effects and - for those with a surround system, good sound. It all made for an entertaining and fast-moving film.

I didn't find a lot of laugh-out-loud moments but it did bring a lot of smiles to my face. A lot of this is dark humor, so it helps to appreciate that type of comedy.

Charles Addams' dark characters get the film treatment in Barry Sonnenfeld's THE ADDAMS FAMILY, which is something of a cross between the actual New Yorker comics and the 1960s television show. Not trying to lean too far to either, the movie stays at a safe plane, even incorporating a vague plot involving two grifters, Gordon and Abigail Craven, posing as Uncle Fester and a renowned psychiatrist (Christopher Lloyd and Elizabeth Wilson) who are in cahoots to rob the Addams of their fortune and house. The problem arises when Craven seems to go against his take-the-money-and-run attitude and when the Addams themselves appear to enjoy every minute that they're being taken advantage of. It suits the dark humor well, because since the Addams live in an alternative universe of their own creation in which dark is light, repugnant is beautiful, pain equals pleasure, death is life, and chaos equals order, it leaves the door open for many of their Gothic eccentricities to pull the rug over Lloyd and Wilson over and over again. It's clever, although its only problem is the "needing to introduce the characters we all know" setup which like in all movies based on comics or television shows, looks obvious.

But despite this, everyone is uniformly excellent. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston lend their looks to embody their cartoon counterparts and are the romantics at the heart of this decidedly perverse story. Christopher Lloyd is also great in his representation of Uncle Fester. But hands down: the one who walks away with the entire movie is Christina Ricci who plays Wednesday as if she were living the role day by day. There's a sadistic gleam in her eyes and her voice that not many child actors have and I think that any other actor of the time that this film was made would have been unable to fit into this difficult part. Other than that, the tone of the movie is perfect: as dark as it wants to be, but never letting its Gothic setting drown it in an inescapable mire. On the contrary, we're constantly aware that this is a typical American family who lives upside down and who are happy in being so even when we gawk and cringe at their oddities.