Addams Family Values

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: November 19, 1993

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

61	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Edward Guthmann

Addams Family Values is so much better than the first film -- partly because Sonnenfeld, who made his directing debut with the first film, has refined his directing chops, but mostly because Rudnick has contributed a delightful, mock- macabre script. [19 Nov 1993, p.C1]

Deborah Peterson

Snappy writing, excellent acting and sharp editing make this comedy zing as the Addams family finds love, lust and lichen growing in its midst. [19 Nov 1993, p.3F]

Leonard Klady

It’s the kind of wickedly delicious comedy one can savor without adding the proviso of guilty pleasure. Read full review

Roger Ebert

What is most beguiling about Addams Family Values is the way the relationship between Gomez and Morticia has ripened. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Addams Family Values is another big opportunistic, pre-marketed studio show, but it has laughs, flair. At its best, it's a valentine of venom, sent with mirth and malice aforethought. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Wittier and more consistent than the first Addams Family movie. Paul Rudnick’s script offers sharp-edged variations on the topsy-turvy Addams worldview, and it’s much better at getting the Addamses out into the straight world, where they can really do some damage. Read full review

Jackie Potts

If it's black satire and acid wit you crave, Addams Family Values is just the tonic. [19 Nov 1993, p.G4]

Janet Maslin

Mr. Sonnenfeld repeats some of the first film's favorite visual stunts without wearing out their welcome, and he sustains much more exuberance than a sequel might be expected to have. The cast, which now includes Carol Kane playing Granny Addams, remains foolproof and great fun. Read full review

Jack Kroll

Paul Rudnick's clever screenplay is deftly cartoonified by director Barry Sonnenfeld. [22 Nov 1993, p.57]

Steve Persall

Addams Family Values is a rare sequel that surpasses the original, primarily for the same reason that Superman II topped the Man of Steel's first outing. This time, Sonnenfeld doesn't bury the jokes in exposition about characters we already know. [19 Nov 1993, p.7]

EmpireAngie Errigo

It is a rare feat to make a sequel better than its predecessor but here Sonnenfeld manages to do just that. With such a strong adult cast, it comes as a surprise when the children steal the show. With such dry and morbid humour, it feels that at times he was filming more for the parental viewers than the childrens. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Sonnenfeld does somewhat better with Addams Family Values than he did with Addams Family. But he still gooses the film with hyperactive slapstick whenever things get talky; he doesn't trust the performers enough, or the material, which seems designed for a less frenetic approach. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Like the first ADDAMS FAMILY, this continuation of the macabre clan's misadventures is really just a string of sight gags and one-liners. The good news is that the one-liners are much funnier than the first time, mainly thanks to the increased input of screenwriter Paul Rudnick. Read full review

Desson Thomson

As with most sequels, Addams Family Values is a thinner, airier reunion. For those who enjoyed the original The Addams Family, the flavor is still there. But you feel a little undernourished. Read full review

Time Out LondonStaff (Not Credited)

As sequels go, this is passable: no more coherent than the episodic first installment, but with enough sick humour to satisfy the mildly depraved. Read full review

Jay Carr

This sequel, ruled by the commercial imperative to not tamper with a highly profitable franchise, mostly just goes through the motions, essentially replicating the first outing. [19 Nov 1993, p.93]

Jeff Shannon

It's hard to enjoy the same joke told a hundred times over. After so many gags about the burial of live cats or putting baby Pubert on a guillotine, it's clear that the movie has little else on its mind. It's enough to make Charles Addams turn in his . . . well, you get the idea. [19 Nov 1993, p.D3]

Marc Savlov

Julia, Huston, Ricci, and Workman are all excellent in their roles (Carol Kane as Granny Addams seems little more than an afterthought), but they're unfortunately not enough to save this elongated mess. If you haven't yet seen the first film, rent that instead, or, better yet, go pick up a volume of the original Addams cartoons. Read full review

Jay Boyar

Somehow, the new production fails to sustain the creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and altogether ooky visual sweep that held the first film together. Read full review

Richard Schickel

Like the first of the Addams chronicles, this is an essentially lazy movie, too often settling for easy gags and special effects that don't come to any really funny point. Read full review

PolygonJesse Hassenger

By zeroing in on the eldest Addams child, the new Addams Family 2 exposes just how clunky and wrongheaded its take on Wednesday is — and what the animated movies get wrong about the family in general. Read full review