She's a pleasant young woman who always dresses in light colors and has a demeanor that would win you over. That is, until you find out that she's been responsible for the deaths of several other people and is after your fortune like her life depends on it.
This is Debbie Jelinsky, and her life story reads like something out of "East of Eden" in which the main heroine did some unspeakable things to everyone who came in touch with her, including and beginning with her parents. She's been assigned to take care of the Addams children because as of late they've taken a homicidal interest in their youngest brother Pubert and no other nanny seems able to handle their recklessness. Of course, no one realizes that she's after Uncle Fester and his money, and in the Addams' world, watching television is not a priority, because had they tuned in to watch "American's Most Disgusting Criminals", they would have found quite a lot about her.
ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES is one of those rare sequels that while being practically the same movie (with a plot revolving around Uncle Fester and his fortune which could, under the wrong hands, affect the entire Addams family), redone with a different villainess, is actually better than the original. The tone is much darker still: Wednesday's sadistic side, subdued in the first film, comes full bloom like her own entrance into young womanhood, and Joan Cusack, while looking quite a lot like Marilyn Munster from the rival series "The Munsters", is by far the ugliest character in the story. Had this been a mainstream drama or suspense thriller her black widow tendencies would have been a little much to bear, but Cusack plays her villainy to the hilt and overshadows Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia who are even better and make one of the screen's best romantic couples of all time (despite their dark makeup).
The last adaptation made for the big screen, Charles Addams' characters would move to the small screen in a new version of the 1960s show and a TV movie, neither very successful.
This is Debbie Jelinsky, and her life story reads like something out of "East of Eden" in which the main heroine did some unspeakable things to everyone who came in touch with her, including and beginning with her parents. She's been assigned to take care of the Addams children because as of late they've taken a homicidal interest in their youngest brother Pubert and no other nanny seems able to handle their recklessness. Of course, no one realizes that she's after Uncle Fester and his money, and in the Addams' world, watching television is not a priority, because had they tuned in to watch "American's Most Disgusting Criminals", they would have found quite a lot about her.
ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES is one of those rare sequels that while being practically the same movie (with a plot revolving around Uncle Fester and his fortune which could, under the wrong hands, affect the entire Addams family), redone with a different villainess, is actually better than the original. The tone is much darker still: Wednesday's sadistic side, subdued in the first film, comes full bloom like her own entrance into young womanhood, and Joan Cusack, while looking quite a lot like Marilyn Munster from the rival series "The Munsters", is by far the ugliest character in the story. Had this been a mainstream drama or suspense thriller her black widow tendencies would have been a little much to bear, but Cusack plays her villainy to the hilt and overshadows Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia who are even better and make one of the screen's best romantic couples of all time (despite their dark makeup).
The last adaptation made for the big screen, Charles Addams' characters would move to the small screen in a new version of the 1960s show and a TV movie, neither very successful.