The Addams Family 2 (2021)

(On Cable TV, July 2022) There was a moment, near where the end of a first act would have been, where I grew immensely weary of The Addams Family 2. It was a point in the vicinity to Niagara Falls when the “one thing after another” nature of the plot became too clear, when I knew that any good intentions I had about the film had evaporated. When the ugly character design would remain until the end, when the basic creative intentions of the film were so radically different from what I wanted to see that the only thing left to do was to resign myself to outlasting the film to its conclusion. I did not, for the record, hate The Addams Family 2—I just felt unsatisfied by its very slight achievements. As someone who holds the two Barry Levinson live action 1990s films in high esteem, both this sequel and the 2019 animated film barely scratch as the potential of its course. I don’t particularly care if they are closer to the Charles Addams characters—they’re not interesting, not likable and not worth spending time with. It certainly doesn’t help that whatever thin plot has to do with questioning whether Wednesday Addams is a true Addams—the notion itself is absurd, and the resolution visible from the moment the question is uttered. Its links to the first animated film are tenuous (which may be a good thing, although I miss Wednesday’s noose-shaped tresses) but the road-trip format seems wasted. Whatever chuckles the film has come as oases in a desert of disinterest. The Addams Family 2 is not bad, dumb or badly made enough to be disliked—but it’s almost entirely redundant, useless and forgettable. And you don’t even have to watch the entire film to realize that.