But if you haven't heard of the Addams Family before today, we have bigger things to worry about.
We own the first movie, and the second movie is available on Netflix. So we watched those two. Thankfully the third isn't available to stream anywhere. Tim Curry is not my Gomez Addams. #NotMyGomez
The plot of "The Addams Family" revolves around the Addamses family lawyer Tully teaming up with a scam artist and her "son" who looks remarkably like Uncle Fester to try and claim the Addams fortune. Fester has been missing for years after venturing into the Bermuda Triangle. It turns out the guy that looks like Fester actually is Fester.
One of the opening scenes of "The Addams Family" is a fun little sword fight between Gomez and Tully. At first it feels like it plays no real purpose in the movie, but it does. Tully hates the Addamses and wants to be done with them forever. This fight shows how eccentric Gomez is, and how Tully feels like he's fighting to stay alive.
Didn't expect this kind of symbolism in your dark comedy, did ya? I'm a huge fan of dark comedy. I love jokes being snuck into movies and things that you don't quite want to laugh at. I love visual comedy. These movies don't fail to deliver in the dark or the visual comedy departments.
"The Addams Family" ends with Morticia being pregnant, and "Addams Family Values" picks right up from there. Gomez and Morticia rush to the hospital to have their third child. Their children Wednesday and Pugsley then spend most of the first act trying to kill the baby, until a nanny is hired. The nanny (played by Joan Cusack) is actually an infamous serial killer known only as The Black Widow. She has targeted Fester to take his money, and convinces the Addams parents that their two older kids want to spend the summer away at camp.
"Addams Family Values" starts really point out how weird isn't a bad thing in a very clear way. The "normal" people at the summer camp end up being racist and very close-minded to anything outside of "the norm". And by "the norm" I of course mean "skinny blond girls, and boys with classic good looks".
One of the great things about these movies is the undeniable chemistry between Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston. The characters of Morticia and Gomez are also near-ideal parents. Question that? They are supportive of their children in everything they do and don't smother their kids. They promote them to be themselves, and to be artistic. Are they weird? Hell yeah, they're weird! But they give the weird people in this world someone to look up to.
And the love between the two characters! This is where their chemistry really comes through. They may be weird, but there are no two people who love each other more in the history of cinema than Gomez and Morticia. No one! That is a marriage goal for us to love each other as much as they do.
The second movie isn't as good as the first, but it definitely isn't a travesty the way some sequels are. This is where her and I disagree: she likes the second more than the first. Both are quite enjoyable movies, and recommended for fans of dark comedy. They are fun with some elements of ridiculousness, and have a great caliber of acting in them for what they are. The second one was one of the last movies Raul Julia filmed before his death, and really its a great way to remember him by. I bet he'd prefer to be remembered as Gomez Addams over M. Bison in that terrible "Street Fighter" movie. I would rather forget "Street Fighter" exists. Luckily we will not be watching that.
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