Formative Performances: Christina Ricci in “The Addams Family Values”

Continuing the theme of child actresses who inspired me, I have to talk about Christina Ricci.

When I was little, I always looked forward to having sleepovers with my younger cousin. Sleepovers meant eating more junk food than I was allowed at home, spending time with my favorite cousin and a super-cool aunt and uncle, and watching silly movies with them. Our favorite things to watch were stupid comedies like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Wayne’s World, and The Addams Family Values. Why we watched the sequel instead of the original, I don’t really know, but that’s the movie that got me interested in Christina Ricci.

Come on. How could I not become entranced by Wednesday Addams? She was the only little girl I’d seen in a movie that was as pale as I was. She was also weird and off-putting and lacked affect – I can relate to the weird and off-putting part, but not the lacking affect – and had a wicked, dark sense of humor. She was a weirdo. I loved her.

I also loved this scene, which is SO inappropriate, but also memorable for signs of baby David Krumholtz and Mercedes McNab (Harmony in Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

I was hooked. After that, Christina Ricci became part of the trifecta of actresses whose movies I always wanted to see, along with Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst. (And yet, I still haven’t seen Mermaids. Go figure.) At one point, Christina Ricci was at the top of the list, and I was super excited to see Casper and Now and Then just for her. You have no idea how excited I was when she made a movie with Anna Chlumsky, and how heartbroken I was when the movie turned out to be totally boring.

Christina Ricci then went on to star in a bunch of independent movies, and good for her. A part of me will always remember her as weird, pale little Wednesday.