Released in 1991, The Addams Family received mixed reviews from critics but it did very well at the box-office. The film of course is based on the 1960's TV show of the same name, which it itself was based on a cartoon in The New Yorker. The plot here is pretty thin; The Addams family has a lot of money stashed away. The family's lawyer happens to owe a bit of money to a loan-shark, and notices that her son bears a striking resemblance to Gomez Addams' long lost brother Fester. So the lawyer and the loan-shark hatch a plan to pass this man off as Fester and have him steal the money. In the end two con artist get their comeuppance when it turns out that the imposter really is Fester and he just had amnesia for the last 25 years.
Despite the less than complex plot, I think the film works because it features such a watchable cast. Raul Julia as Gomez Addams and Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams are both terrific, and I'll watch Christopher Lloyd in just about anything. That being said, the real standout, scene-stealer in the film is Wednesday Addams played by Christina Ricci. She has some of the funniest lines and it's obvious why she was given a bigger role in the sequel (1993's Addams Family Values).
Overall, you get what you'd expect from The Addams Family; a fun comedy about a spooky family living in an ordinary world. It's a solid movie worth going back to from time to time, particularly around Halloween.
3 out of 5
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