When I was out on Force Friday, binging on new Star Wars action figures, I saw that The Addams Family had just been re-released on Blu-Ray, in a discount bin friendly price. So I thought, "Why not?" and picked it up.
The Addams Family was one of the bigger blockbusters in the holiday season of 1991. Based on the comic strip by Charles Addams, but also the hit TV series it spawned in the 1960s. Following the adventures of a family that revels in the grim and the macabre. It's just a fun movie.
Gomez Addams is despondent, as it's the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of his brother, Fester. Meanwhile, Gomez's unscrupulous accountant is in deep with a loan shark, so they come up with a plan to scam Gomez out of the Addams family fortune. The loan shark's son Gordon is the spitting image of Fester, so they have Gordon impersonate Fester. But, as Gordon/Fester begins to bond with the family, he starts to question where his loyalties lie.
Probably the best thing about the film is how the entire cast gives it their all. They just throw themselves into it and give it their all. After being a character actor in mostly supporting roles for years, Raul Julia finally gets to be a leading man as Gomez, and it made him a star. And Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams...as I saw one YouTube retrospective say, she must have been grown in a lab to play Wednesday.
You think back in the day, they would have gotten Tim Burton to direct this. The dark, gothic look would have been right up his alley. Apparently, he was a contender, but instead they went with Barry Sonnenfeld. After being an Oscar-winning cinematographer, this was his directorial debut. As such, it looks amazing, and he went on to have a pretty good career as a director, too, doing Get Shorty and the Men in Black franchise. He also has a great cameo as a hapless train passenger.
And man, what a lush score by Marc Shaiman.
It's fun reading up on the film as I'm looking for stuff to say. Of course, our big twist ending is Fester has his memory restored with a bolt of lightening and it turns out he really was Uncle Fester all along. Apparently, the original ending was it was going to be kept ambiguous as to whether he really was Fester or not, but the cast rebelled and said he had to be Fester, or else it would violate the film's whole theme of family sticking together.
I wish I had more to say, but I really don't. It's just a fun and funny film, and remains so after all these years. Oh, and that M.C. Hammer theme song is killer
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