ADAPTATION: THE ADDAMS FAMILY, BILLY BATHGATE, V.I. WARSHAWSKI
Sonnenfeld et al strike just the right comic tone throughout, with the help of the production design, which definitely takes its cue from the old cartoons (that opening scene with the cauldron is right from a cartoon). And while there are special effects, the only major one is Thing, the hand that gave a hand in the TV show, is no longer trapped in his box, but (as played by Christopher Hart) moves at will. The other reason this works is the cast. Though I liked what I saw of the show, I was never a regular watcher, so I didn't have an image of John Astin (Gomez) or Carolyn Jones (Morticia) hanging over my head. Even if I did, however, Julia and Huston are perfect in their respective roles, and have great chemistry together, especially when dancing together. While Wednesday didn't make much of an impression on me with the show, Ricci is dead-on accurate here, especially in the famous scene when she's selling lemonade (an obnoxious Girl Scout (Mercedes McNab) buys lemonade only because it's made from real lemons; when she offers Wednesday Girl Scout cookies, Wednesday asks, "Are they made from real Girl Scouts?"). THE ADDAMS FAMILY may not be a transcendent adaptation, but it's fun.
While I am somewhat fond of THE ADDAMS FAMILY TV show, I have never really been able to get into the novels of E.L. Doctorow. He's considered one of the greatest American novels working today, but I find his novels overstuffed and convoluted. So I wasn't looking forward to Robert Benton's adaptation, even with Dustin Hoffman as the star. But although this not only suffers from having to follow the previous gangster film-heavy year, but isn't great, it's still reasonably entertaining.
Loren Dean, best known at the time for the guy Lili Taylor wrote 65 songs about in SAY ANYTHING, is the title character, a street kid in 1920's New York. One day, he happens to be juggling when gangster Dutch Schulz (Hoffman) happens by, and impressed, he tips the kid. This leads to Billy being sucked into Schulz's life (just as Henry Hill becomes sucked into the gangster's life in GOODFELLAS). But two things happen to force Billy to re-evaluate his choices. One is, Dutch kills off Bo Weinberg (Bruce Willis), a former colleague whom he thought betrayed him. It's also possible Dutch wanted to kill Bo to get at his girlfriend, Drew Preston
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