“They do what they wanna do, say what they wanna say, live how they wanna live, play what they wanna play, dance how they wanna dance, kick and they slap a friend, The Addams Family!”
Yes, MC Hammer provides the soundtrack to the live-action, big screen update of “The Addams Family.” If anything, it’s Cousin Itt’s go-to jam while rolling around in that sweet ITT-Mobile.
The 1991 film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, was a massive hit, capitalizing on some slick production design, inspired casting and a rather peculiar mix of slapstick and morbid humor. “Addams Family Values” in 1993 is a true rarity – a sequel that improves upon the original in almost every way, most importantly with the inclusion of a true antagonist in the form of a vamping Joan Cusack. It’s also the movie where the Addams kids Wednesday and Pugsley terrorize a saccharine summer camp.
The Old Millennials discuss the legacy of this 90s mini-franchise, the strange combination of gallows humor and kiddie cartoon antics, the sometimes exhausting simmer of Raul Julia and Angelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia, and the showstopping MVP performance of a young Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams. Also, is Thing a fun marvel of 90s-era special effects or a super annoying distraction? How does he (it? Itt?) get a job in an office mailroom anyway? Is the sentient severed hand a normal occurrence in this world?
Also in this episode, Tyler (sorta) attends the New York Film Festival, and the 2019 animated reboot of “The Addams Family” is reviewed, though one of the hosts slept through a good 45 minutes of it.
If you take away one lesson from “The Addams Family,” it’s this: Just because a family gets a new baby doesn’t mean one of the other children has to die. At least not anymore.
Also discussed in this episode:
- Nomadland (2020)
- The Boys in the Band (2020)
- Weathering With You (2020)
- Dick Johnson is Dead (2020)
- Wishmaster (1997)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:14:21 — 34.0MB) | Embed
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