Inventing the Abbotts

{{Infobox film

| name = Inventing the Abbotts

| image = Inventing the abbotts poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Pat O'Connor

| producer = Brian Grazer
Ron Howard
Janet Meyers

| screenplay = Ken Hixon

| based_on = {{Based on|"Inventing the Abbotts"|Sue Miller}}

| narrator =

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = Michael Kamen

| cinematography = Kenneth MacMillan

| editing = Ray Lovejoy

| studio = Fox 2000 Pictures
Imagine Entertainment

| distributor = 20th Century Fox

| released = {{Film date|1997|04|04}}

| runtime = 112 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross = $5.9 million

}}

Inventing the Abbotts is a 1997 American period coming-of-age film directed by Pat O'Connor, and starring Liv Tyler, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly and Joanna Going. The screenplay by Ken Hixon is based on a short story by Sue Miller.{{Cite web |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |date=April 4, 1997 |title=Inventing the Abbotts |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/abbotts-film-review.html |access-date=November 17, 2021 |website=New York Times}} The original music score was composed by Michael Kamen. The film focuses on two brothers and their relationship with the wealthy Abbott sisters.

Plot summary

The lives of two families, the Holts and the Abbotts, intersect in the small Illinois town of Haley in the 1950s. Two brothers, J.C. and Doug Holt are being raised by their single, working mother. Their father Charlie was a reckless risk-taker who lost his life when J.C. was two years old and Doug wasn't even born, after driving on a frozen lake over a bet made with Lloyd Abbott. Lloyd had just acquired Charlie's patent for a steel file-drawer in return for almost nothing, consequently becoming one of the town's wealthiest and most-admired citizens. Lloyd and his distant wife, Joan, are the parents of three beautiful daughters, Alice, Eleanor and Pamela. The parties for the girls' birthdays and other milestones are among the most anticipated events in the town.

Thinking his father's death was Lloyd's fault, and that the money raised from the patent was unfairly stolen from his family, J.C. seeks revenge on Lloyd through the calculated seduction of the Abbott daughters. First he hooks up with Eleanor, the wildest of the three. As a consequence of their relationship, she's sent away to a mental hospital, and will end up never returning to Haley again. Meanwhile, Doug, who initially admires his brother's libertine lifestyle, starts harboring reciprocated feelings for the youngest Abbott, Pamela. The two awkwardly circle each other, but she protests his early, fumbling sexual advances.

During a summer home from college, J.C. seduces the oldest Abbott daughter, Alice, who's divorcing her abusive husband after the birth of their daughter. The relationship between J.C. and Alice also leads to heartbreak, as well as to Lloyd taking extreme measures to keep them apart.

Amidst the complicated dynamics brought about by their siblings, Doug and Pamela meet again by chance while attending college at Penn and Bryn Mawr, respectively. Their reunion is once again thwarted by the reveal that J.C. has in the meantime started a sexual relationship with Pamela, too. This creates a severe fracture between the two brothers.

When Doug and J.C. come back home for their mother's funeral, they find the document confirming their late father had sold his patent for the very car he drove to his death on the lake. This knowledge doesn't comfort J.C., who still finds it deeply unfair that they were denied the wealth of the Abbotts for arbitrary reasons. In the end, Doug convinces Lloyd of his true love for Pamela and the two finally find each other for good. The adult Doug who's narrating the story recounts how they married one year later and eventually gave birth to two daughters.

Cast

Liv Tyler as Pamela Abbott
Joaquin Phoenix as Doug Holt
Billy Crudup as John Charles "J.C." Holt
Jennifer Connelly as Eleanor Abbott
Will Patton as Lloyd Abbott
Kathy Baker as Helen Holt
Joanna Going as Alice Abbott
Barbara Williams as Joan Abbott
Alessandro Nivola as Peter Vanlaningham
Michael Keaton as The Narrator / Older Doug Holt
Zoe McLellan as Sandy

Production

Though the film is set in rural Illinois, it was mostly shot in the region of Northern California, including the areas of Healdsburg, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa.{{Cite web |title=INVENTING THE ABBOTTS |url=http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/InventingTheAbbotts/ |access-date=November 17, 2021 |website=www.filminamerica.com}} The University of the Pacific in Stockton stood in for scenes set at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reception

Inventing the Abbotts was not well received by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 37% based on reviews from 27 critics.{{cite web |title= Inventing the Abbotts (1997) |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inventing_the_abbotts |website= Rotten Tomatoes }} On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a score of 49 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/inventing-the-abbotts|title=Inventing the Abbotts|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=June 3, 2021}}

Roger Ebert, in a 2-star review, praised the acting and the art direction, but criticized the story and slow pacing, saying the film lacked "the cheerful love of human nature that enlivened{{nbsp}}... Circle of Friends," Pat O'Connor's previous film which was also about young love in the 1950s.{{cite web|last1=Ebert|first1=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=Inventing The Abbotts Movie Review (1997)|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/inventing-the-abbotts-1997|website=Chicago Sun-Times}}

Janet Maslin of the New York Times said of the young cast, "[Joaquin] Phoenix, so memorably mixed up and inarticulate in To Die For, steps solidly into the assertive role of this film's narrator. [Billy] Crudup smolders well and leaves no mystery about J.C.'s power to attract the sisters. Ms. Connelly, often cast in cheesecake roles, gives this one a sly, vixenish spark."

Emanuel Levy of Variety said the "cast of newcomers is appealing, but this small-town melodrama is so old-fashioned and out-of-touch with contemporary youth that it feels as if it were made the same time that its story is set, in 1957."{{cite web|last1=Levy|first1=Emanuel|author-link=Emanuel Levy|date=23 March 1997|title=Inventing the Abbotts|url=https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/inventing-the-abbotts-1200449165/|website=Variety}}