The Addams Family...Lives UP

The Essence of Anjelica Huston and Epic Deadpan Humor Still Lands

By Jess Latterman

The first thing to know about re-watching The Addams Family is that the plot doesn’t matter. Is Fester really Fester? Do you even remember that there was a ridiculous money grab scheme where The Addams family lawyer Tully (Dan Hedeya), plots to steal the Addams family fortune with his client Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson) whose son Gordon (Christopher Lloyd) poses as Gomez Addams’ long lost brother Fester? Do you even care? We were each surprised to re-learn that this plot (or any plot) existed at all. In the end, any illegal machinations were beside the point. The focal point of the movie is The Addams family doing their gothic, macabre, and weird Addams family thing. Even my kids (ages 10 and 5) either didn’t follow the plot or didn’t care that much about it. The strangeness of it all, with a bonus of a class recital featuring Wednesday and Pugsley sword fighting with a Carrie-level amount of fake blood, is what got some chuckles from my kids. 

For adults, and far over the heads of kids it seems, the performance delivered by Anjelica Huston as Morticia was a major factor in pushing this movie to ultimately live up. If deadpan delivery were an Oscar category, surely Anjelica Huston would have no peer to contend with. She is simply velvety perfection. 

In my opinion, Anjelica Huston alone makes this movie worth a re-watch for adults. I guarantee you’ll find things she says and how she says them to be even funnier now as an adult and perhaps a parent. She is matched quite well with Raul Julia who plays her husband Gomez. My co-host Amanda Treat briefly wondered where he was a sociopath, but we settled on him just being absurdly rich and unaware. My kids could have done without the overly sexual chemistry Gomez has with Morticia, which was cringe-y for my daughter (10) and confusing for my son (5). My puzzled son wondered aloud,“what are they doing?”, which was its own source of amusement, at least for me. 

To round out the family, one has to gush over Wednesday Addams - both one’s memory of the character and Christina Ricci’s portrayal of the very goth pre-teen who tries to kill her brother and scares off girl scouts.

I did accuse Amanda of likely being a real life version of Wednesday when she was a kid - her memory of each scene is impressive. Wednesday’s Janeane Garofalo-like delivery of each line is still relatable 30 years on for both adults and kids. You be you Wednesday Addams (even if perhaps you are the sociopath of the family)! 

It’s not totally surprising that The Addams Family landed in the mediocre range for critics - a 67% on the tomatometer. There really is no plot. 

In the end we decided that in this case, the characters we remembered were not only still compelling, but their humor landed even better to our adult eyes and ears. 

Hear more about our not exactly professional review and scoring of The Addams Family on the Live UP podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

All podcast platforms can be found here.

If you want to rewatch and see for yourself if The Addams Family lives up, it's currently streaming on Netflix. The new series Wednesday is also worth a watch.