The Addams Family (1991)
…………………………………………………
The Addams Family Movie Review
The Addams Family is a 1991 supernatural comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia. It’s a fun, solid effort.
………………………………………………….
“Last night you were unhinged.
You were like some desperate, howling demon.
You frightened me. Do it again!“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
This bizarre, macabre family is iconic and definitely deserves a better movie than what they got here admittedly. Yes, the film is pretty solid, but never as good as the characters needed. So the entire plot here is fine for what it is (lost cousin, outsider looking to get money from the family), but I never found it particularly inspired. The movie definitely has a lot of memorable sequences, but it doesn’t work as a fully coherent feature flick. But more on the pacing later.
Let’s talk about the characters. I love Anjelica Huston in every movie and here she was perfectly cast as Morticia Addams and was meant to play this role both in looks and in personality. She’s my favorite character in the film undoubtedly as she got a lot of amusing one-liners. Raul Julia is also very good as Gomez and quite memorable. Uncle Fester is solid, but the others are all forgettable with the exception of Thing as this crazy dead hand and of course Wednesday who’s such a crazy, blood-thirsty little girl.
The Addams Family is at its best when dealing with comedic, macabre and dark situations. The humor is so good here that it makes you forget about the film’s many obvious flaws. The family’s obsession with blood and violence was so well played for laughs in many perfectly executed funny scenes.
However, the film is so badly paced and structured that it’s obvious from the beginning. I found the entire flick very episodic in nature and highly resembling a prolonged TV episode. They never managed to overcome that problem as the storytelling is sporadic and the focus is never strong as the film continually meanders from the main course.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
But it is very well shot for sure and I found the attention to detail in the interiors, exteriors and particularly great costume design superb. The casting is also top-notch with everyone being perfect for their role. But the direction from Sonnenfeld should have been better.
The Addams Family meanders from the main plot course too much as the film is badly paced, structured and resembling a prolonged TV episode too much. But the story is solid, the film is very well made across the board, it’s particularly well cast with everyone fitting the role so well and its strong macabre humor is definitely the highlight.
