24 years later: not good


When this was relesaed in 1991 I was indifferent. I saw it with some friends, thought it was ok but nothing to write home about.

But I re-watched for the first time on Netflix a couple of nights ago and found myself severely annoyed by it.

This movie is nothing more than actors playing dress-up. There's no story -- not really, not one that anyone could care about. It isn't funny, unless your idea of funny is just recognizing references to stuff in an old tv show ("Ha ha look there's cousin It"). It's purely about putting actors in outlandish costumes on outlandish sets, mugging for the camera.

I can't imagine that Barry Sonnenfeld's direction consisted of anything more than telling the actors to make "big" faces, because, boy, does Sonnenfeld like his zoom-ins on big, show-offy, actorly expressions. "Gomez: big smile!" "Morticia: look droll!" "Fester: big smile!" "Wednesday: look droll!"

I recall that this earned points with the critics back in the day because it was "ironic." That is, I guess we're to tell from the subtle twist of Angelica Huston's lips, or Raoul Julia's wink, that they're all "in on the joke." But who cares if the joke sucks in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not being a snob here. I like popular entertainment and Hollywood fare as much as the next guy. But there's got to be some kind of story in there. I don't like this kind of thing where the sole artistic impetus is: Hey, isn't this funny to see (then) modern actors dressed up in silly, "fabulous" costumes from that weird old show?

Reminds me of the universally-despised Joel Schumacher Batman films.

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Just like all the previous posters, I strongly disagree with the original poster. I also just watched it again after many years, and to my biggest surprise, I think this movie has aged quite well and is full of humor. What I love the most about it are the dialogs. There are so many funny twists on words and expressions, and their interactions are brilliant! I think if you watch it again, you should focus more on the dialogs than the visuals (since the visual aspect is what seemed to bother you). The dialogs are just so cleverly written.

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Disagree; this movie is still just as great as it was when it first came out. Saw it on Netflix after not seeing in nearly 8 or 9 years, and it was just as funny, over the top and entertaining as I had remembered. I feel its held up extremely well after all these years.









History is written by the victor. History is full of liars.

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I disagree. This is a family favorite. I grew up watching the tv show reruns with my family, as much as my brother & I fought we watched this movie together often as teens & my own kids have enjoyed this movie too. It's a much watch every Halloween season.

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If you look at movies based off of tv shows this one is one of the best. They captured the show so well and then went even further. I just watched it on Netflix with my kids and we all loved it.

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I disagree too. It's a family faovirte in our house. We watched both of them every year.

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Boring, uninspired, droll, trying to be aloof and cool. The movie's still pretty decent though.

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WORDS MEAN THINGS! Also, before you come to bitch about a plot hole, rewatch the show/movie.

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Theres actually a very intricate plot involving Fester and his corrupt "mother"- surprised you missed it. Maybe too busy bitching?

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28 years later: good

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