'Addams Family Values' - Movie Review

This is the second (and last) of the "Addams Family" movies, based on both Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons and also the black and white TV series from the 1960s of the same name. Watching this in 2018, I remembered enjoying it in theatres when it was released, but I thought I might find it a bit ... quaint ... at this remove. But the movie is loaded with wonderfully twisted jokes that come at you thick and fast. I could have used any of a dozen of them as an example, but here's a good one: "You'll meet someone. Someone very special. Someone who won't press charges."

The story revolves around Uncle Fester's (Christopher Lloyd) search for love. Unhappily for him, he finds Debbie (Joan Cusack), who marries and kills men for their money. Director Barry Sonnenfeld knows when he's got a good thing: he gives many of the best lines to Christina Ricci (who plays Wednesday Addams) whose slightly creepy and amazingly deadpan delivery makes already good jokes brilliant. Totally absurd and hugely entertaining.

Also notable to me for a very early and significant appearance by David Krumholtz, who was 14 at the time.