There has always been something attractive to me about The Addams Family. The concept itself was an interesting and funny idea with an incredibly campy execution: what if there was an aristocratic family that existed as counterpoint to all the norms of the 1950s and 60s? Where other families were optimistic, the Addams would be cynical, where others were relatively Christian, the Addams would follow the occult, and, the most tellingly of all, where most families were held together by strained marriages, the Addams' patriarch and matriarch loved each other unconditionally. Through the corny gothic aesthetic, gallows humor, and general "I'll do the opposite of what you do" shenanigans throughout The Addams Family, that gimmick only ever worked because the Addams were such a happy family. They may wade into your discomfort, but they were happier than you, more full of life (ironically), and approving of one another's passions. How telling it is that this was in opposition to societal norms.
The Addams Family started its life as a cartoon strip in The New Yorker, simple one panel jokes like The Far Side playing on aristocratic norms. The series gained enough popularity to become a relatively successful TV show (airing the same year as the slightly more successful The Munsters, a good show in its own right but not nearly as compelling conceptually), cementing the idea of The Addams Family into the American consciousness. The Addams Family had a few more public stints before 1991, with television specials, a TV movie, spin-off shows, a cartoon show, and a number of guest appearances on the likes of Scooby-Doo, but eventually appearances from the charismatic family faded away.
Enter 1991, and we have what must be a progenitor to the "old TV show becomes summer movie" fad that started gaining steam in the 2000s. The Addams Family film from 1991 is a quirky film. Cast to a near perfect "T", charm oozes from The Addams Family at every turn, with macabre jokes and joyfully impassioned performances. My experience with The Addams Family growing up was a collage of the cartoon show, Scooby-Doo appearances, and this film (the original show from '64 never seemed to air in my household where The Munsters did for some reason, perhaps due to uncommon syndication?), but it is the depiction of the titular family from 1991 that has always felt like the go-to canonical version. There are differences between this film and the original show (mostly through who is related to who, the film swapping out Morticia's relatives for that of Gomez), but when I think of Gomez and Morticia and Wednesday, I think of Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, and Christina Ricci. Picking between the best performance of these three is like picking a favorite child, as each brings something lovable and different to the table. Anjelica Huston is absolutley lovely as Morticia, the pale and clever matriarch. Raul Julia has an insatiable amount of gusto in his portrayal of Gomez, a performance I could watch all day. And Christina Ricci, at all of the age of 11, shows an incredible amount of darkly comedic timing and dead-panning that is lightning in a bottle for such a young actress. Those left out - such as Christopher Llloyd as uncle Fester - do a great job as well, rounding out the cast into a flush and near-perfect match for their characters. With a great script, this could have been a classic family film.
But, unfortunately, this is not a perfect script. The Addams Family's plot is muddled at best, slow at worst. Jokes weaving in and out of the film help move things along, but nothing can really help that this story is oddly weird for an Addams Family film. Uncle Fester has been missing for 25 years after a spat with Gomez when they were kids, and his absence hangs over the father like a shadow (and not the kind he likes). When a scam artist comes along wanting to get to the Addams' fortune, they devise a plan to fake Fester's return in order to get inside the house. The scam artist, it turns out, has an adopted son with a compelling resemblance to Uncle Fester. The family embraces this con-Fester into their home, even as they slowly begin to suspect that there are certain things not right about him. It is the type of story that would have been held off for a straight-to-video sequel more than a first film in a budding franchise. The Uncle Fester plotline allows for some fun performances between Lloyd and Julia as Julia tries to remind him of their past, but the ambiguity as to whether this is really uncle Fester feels distracting throughout, as does a plot that hardly plays into the Addams' strengths of being strange in opaque normalcy. There are standout scenes here and there - such as the play scene, Gomez's model trains, and the late scenes at a motel - but these feel like good jokes the thin plot was more than likely framed around. The plot, likewise, keeps the Addams in their gothic home for most of the film, not utilizing the contrast of the strange family with the world outside nearly as much as it should. The film has a loving eye for the Addams, but the story doesn't service them nearly as well as it should.
The Addams Family is an okay film, entertaining mostly on its concept and the spectacular cast that make these character lovable oddballs, but overall the film is a bit of a disappointment. Oddly, I have never seen Addams Family Values, the supposedly superior sequel, but I am looking forward to it. Anything to get this cast together again, especially with a better script, because this is a concept I would love to see done right.
6.0
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