wednesday movie review rotten tomatoes

Stranger Things Season 5
Deadpool and Wolverine
The Batman 2
Spider-Man 4
Yellowstone Season 6
Fallout Season 2
The Last of Us Season 2
Entertainment

Wednesday review: making goth great again

Jenna Ortega, as Wednesday Addams, holds two bags filled with piranhas.

“Series star Jenna Ortega and director Tim Burton bring The Addams Family to life in a quirky gothic mystery for Netflix that's monstrously fun.”

Jenna Ortega perfectly embodies the character
Great blend of supernatural horror, teen drama
Adds depth to the entire Addams Family
Visual effects are good, not great

Wednesday Addams isn’t the first character that comes to mind when you’re searching for someone with the cachet to carry a solo series, but it doesn’t take long for Tim Burton and Wednesday star Jenna Ortega to make her star power abundantly clear in Netflix’s dark, delightfully entertaining series .

A spinoff of The Addams Family franchise, Wednesday follows the titular, elder Addams sibling after she finds herself expelled from high school due to a nasty incident involving the water polo team and two bags of piranhas . The event prompts her parents, Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones), to enroll her in their former alma mater, prep school Nevermore Academy, which specializes in educating “outcast” children. As she attempts to forge her own path at the school, where her parents’ legacy looms large, Wednesday soon finds herself wrapped up in a mystery tied to killings in a nearby town.

Color us scared

Wednesday hails from Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and although it manages to channel some of the same young adult drama the pair brought to their teenage Superman series, it’s Burton’s aesthetic that informs much of the look and feel of Wednesday ‘s first, eight-episode season.

The 50 best shows on Netflix in November 2024
5 great Netflix movies to stream this Election Day
5 great Netflix movies to watch on Labor Day

The Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice director helms the series’ first four episodes, and draws from a similar palette as his 1990 film Edward Scissorhands , which had its characters bouncing between two contrasting environments: One dark and gothic, and the other bright and colorful. Like the title character of that film, Wednesday’s adventures have her and her classmates — werewolves, sirens, and gorgons among them — navigating between the stark stone and dark forest of their gothic home and the bright streets of an exaggerated small-town America.

As one might expect, Burton is right at home in the comic-gothic vibe of Wednesday’s world, but he also manages to fit Nevermore surprisingly well into the brightly colored, traditional Americana surrounding it. The two aesthetics shouldn’t mesh as well as they do, but Wednesday makes the weaving together of these worlds feel surprisingly seamless.

Darkness becomes her

While the look and feel of Wednesday is executed amazingly well, it’s Ortega’s performance as the title character that ultimately sells the series.

It’s difficult to imagine anyone nailing Wednesday’s dry, morbid personality as well as Christina Ricci in the live-action Addams Family films of the 1990s, but Ortega runs away with the role in the Netflix series. Ortega is a talented actress whose recent, well-received performances in Ti West’s X and Scream suggest she’s no stranger to dark subject matter, but Wednesday flexes an entirely different sort of approach to the material, and Ortega rises to the occasion. Her deadpan delivery rarely falters, and in those rare moments where the story calls for her to do so, Ortega finds just the right amount of subtlety to keep her character’s coming-of-age experience in character.

She’s not alone in giving a great performance, either.

In supporting roles, Guzmán and Zeta-Jones offer a version of the Addams Family central couple that’s both familiar and unique and plays to the celebrated actors’ strengths. It’s no easy task to measure up to the portrayals of Gomez and Morticia in the original television series (John Astin and Carolyn Jones) and the two live-action theatrical features of the ’90s (Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston), but Wednesday ‘s version of the deeply romantic, macabre duo finds the happy medium between their past and present incarnations. The same is true of Fred Armisen’s too-brief appearance as Wednesday’s iconic Uncle Fester, with the Portlandia star’s wacky performance playing well off Wednesday’s dry presence.

They mostly come out at night

Despite the series’ focus on Wednesday Addams, it also does a remarkable job of building out the entire Addams Family’s backstory in some fun, fascinating ways.

The fictional history of creator Charles Addams’ family of characters has rarely adhered to any sort of canon, and Wednesday sends the Addams Family timeline in some new, clever directions. The series sheds some light on Morticia and Gomez’s early years and burgeoning romance at Nevermore Academy, for example, and reveals some intriguing plot points about their time there and how it shaped some well-known aspects of the characters. Although the show keeps the spotlight on Wednesday, the story of the entire Addams Family feels significantly richer with the lore Wednesday brings to their saga.

Outside of the established Addams Family characters appearing in the series, Wednesday also introduces some compelling supporting characters to her world.

Gwendoline Christie ( Game of Thrones ) offers a nice foil for Wednesday as the headmistress of Nevermore, while Emma Myers portrays Wednesday’s eternally perky, optimistic roommate (who also happens to be a werewolf), Enid Sinclair. Both actresses give strong performances that tease out more of Wednesday’s character and give her the sort of surrounding cast of enemies and allies that make her feel like a more fully realized character.

Ricci herself plays a recurring role in the series , too, as the school’s botany instructor, Marilyn Thornhill, and watching her and Ortega interact makes for some extra fun, self-aware humor.

Fans of popular Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will likely feel some familiarity with Wednesday , which manages to hit the sweet spot between dark, supernatural adventure and teen drama surprisingly well. Wednesday goes quite a bit darker than that series, though, thanks to Burton’s influence and even more quirky characters.

Fans of Burton’s work, anyone looking to fill that Sabrina void, or viewers simply intrigued by the idea of a gothic horror-comedy with a compelling mystery at its center and a great cast of unique, colorful characters will find plenty to like about Wednesday . Mysterious and spooky and altogether ooky, the series is a scream in all the right ways.

Season 1 of Wednesday premieres November 23 on Netflix.

Wednesday (2022)

Editors’ recommendations.

The best new shows to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Max (HBO), and more
5 great Netflix TV shows to stream on Election Day
5 great underrated movies to stream on Labor Day
10 great TV shows to watch on Labor Day
5 great comedy movies to stream this Labor Day weekend
Product Reviews
Streaming Services

September is prime time for TV series with plenty of new shows returning for the fall season. While this timeline typically revolves around linear network TV channels, streaming services will see shows return this month as well. FX’s The Old Man and Paramount+’s Tulsa King return for their second seasons. From (MGM+) debuts its third season this month, Apple TV+’s Slow Horses its fourth, Netflix’s Emily in Paris the second half of season 4, and more.

If you’re looking for something entirely new to check out, however, there are exciting shows coming to streaming services to kick off the new school year and the end of summer. Here, we highlight four must-watch new shows along with a pair of anticipated second seasons: One is the latest in an Emmy-winning anthology series, and another a spinoff within one of the biggest TV franchises. The Perfect Couple (September 5) The Perfect Couple | Official Teaser Trailer | Netflix

Ah, summer. The leaves are green, the sun is shining, and the weather is warm. Is there any better time of year to watch some great rom-coms? They complement summer's fun, carefree vibes and are great for anyone dreaming of a summer fling (or anyone who already has one).

If you're looking for the perfect summer rom-com, Netflix is stocked with great options, including its own original films, as well as both modern and classic favorites. From globetrotting lovers to hilariously mismatched couples and more, check out these great rom-coms streaming on Netflix right now, all perfect for a warm summer evening. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

As the summer scorcher continues, there's never been a better time to sit inside, enjoy the AC, and watch some great movies. But some movies just hit differently during the warmer summer months. Most of us are looking for fun and excitement, thrill and action. It's not exactly the season for slow-burn thrillers or gut-punch dramas.

Instead, summer is the time to celebrate big box office blockbusters, effects-heavy crowd-pleasers, and feel-good favorites. Netflix, being the powerhouse streamer that is, luckily has tons of great movies to watch during the summer, including a huge selection of sci-fi hits. Check out these five fantastic sci-fi movies that are perfect for summer, all streaming right now on Netflix. Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Netflix's Wednesday Combines Teen Angst and Murder

Netflix's Addams Family series "Wednesday" successfully combines two genres in a way that makes more sense than most—the teen coming-of-age story and the murder-mystery plot. Over the last decade or so, there's been a lot of shows that have merged the two, using violence to juice up the general teen fair of crushes, college admissions, and meddlesome parents. But where shows like " Riverdale " can feel forced to the point of silliness, "Wednesday" succeeds thanks to its familiar protagonist and her macabre-loving family.

Fans of the Addams clan get plenty of service in this eight-part series. Thing, the living, moving severed hand, is a full-fledged character with ongoing gags about skincare and manicures, plus an (only metaphysical) heart of his own. Fred Armisen shows up for episode seven as Uncle Fester, winkingly playing the bald criminal. And the show plays with the highly sexually charged dynamic between Morticia ( Catherine Zeta-Jones ) and Gomez ( Luis Guzmán ). There's even a bit with the two snaps from the famous theme song. For those with only a passing affection for the Addams family or the aesthetic of executive producer and director of half the episodes, Tim Burton , some of these bits may come to grate (we get it—they're dark!). But there's enough other stuff for fans and non-fans to enjoy.

Jenna Ortega 's performance as Wednesday elevates the series above pure nostalgia. She's become a force in horror thanks to roles in 2022's "Scream," A24's " X ," and Netflix's "You" but while Wednesday may fancy herself to be living in a scary movie, her adventures are less blood-drenched and more camp comedy. Ortega excels in the role, leaning into a deadpan humor made all the funnier by her character's lack of interest in anything approaching laughter.

The show's directors get a lot of mileage out of Jenna Ortega 's physicality, particularly in the high school dance scene, where she manages to own the floor while staying true to her dark nature. And it's not just for comedy—more than once, we see the smallness of her body on the screen as she faces off again forces much bigger than her. These angles give her confrontations extra power, marking her as an underdog even as her superior insight and tenacity set her up to be the story's clear winner.

The show also leverages classic teen tropes to bring lightness to its dark halls, starting with the " Clueless " tour of the cliques at Wednesday's new school. There's also a convoluted sporting event that's a clear parallel to Harry Potter's Quidditch . The aforementioned prom/dance comes complete with a (what else?) " Carrie " moment. And there's so much more—the stuffy headmistress, the love triangle, the secret society.

Along the way, everything works. The mystery is hard to figure out but clearly in place all along and concludes satisfactorily. The action is suspenseful with real danger looming for likable (if mostly side) characters. And the social commentary—about the vileness of settler colonialism—is gratifying.

Adding to these elements is Wednesday's evolution out of, or at least through teen angst. She's extremely sure of herself but with plenty of growing up to do. That makes her both an extraordinary and typical teen, someone who thinks they know everything while continuously being made to learn more. Over the series, we see her come to better understand her parents (even her mother!) as she comes into a more mature, less knee-jerk contradictory understanding of herself.

It's rare to see a show so successfully mix coming-to-age character development with gross and gory ghouls and a serial murder plot on top of it all. By the end, I was smiling broadly, happy to have been back with these old friends and witnessing their familiar, family-driven hijinks.

If there's ever a character for whom death and darkness don't weigh her down but are a normal part of her high school years, it's Wednesday Addams. And Netflix's "Wednesday" makes the most of its heroine's unique disposition.

All eight episodes screened for review. "Wednesday" premieres on Netflix on November 23rd.