Inventing the Abbotts

Inventing the Abbotts
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pat O'Connor
Produced by	Brian Grazer Ron Howard
Written by	Ken Hixon (screenplay) Sue Miller (short story)
Starring	Joaquin Phoenix Billy Crudup Liv Tyler Jennifer Connelly Will Patton Michael Keaton
Music by	Michael Kamen
Cinematography	Kenneth MacMillan
Editing by	Ray Lovejoy
Studio	Imagine Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	April 4, 1997
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$5,936,344

Inventing the Abbotts is a 1997 romance film directed by Pat O'Connor, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly, and Michael Keaton. The screenplay by Ken Hixon is based on a short story by Sue Miller. The original music score is composed by Michael Kamen. The film is marketed with the tagline "When you want it all but can't have it, there's only one way to handle life... invent it."

Plot summary

The lives of two closely linked families dangerously intersect in a small Illinois town in the 1950s. Two brothers, Jacey and Doug Holt are growing up in Haley, Illinois, sons of a working single mother. Their father, a reckless risk-taker, has lost his life via a bet with Lloyd Abbott, his business partner. Abbott eventually becomes one of the town's foremost, wealthiest and most-admired citizen. The lives of the Holts and the Abbotts are intertwined through various entanglements. Lloyd Abbott and his distant wife, Joan, are the parents of three beautiful daughters, Alice, Eleanor and Pamela.

Because of a misunderstanding of the circumstances surrounding his father's death (a supposed bet with Abbott that took the elder Holt's life), Jacey (Billy Crudup) seeks revenge on the Abbotts through the calculated seduction of the Abbott daughters. At first, Jacey cannot wait to escape the suffocating life in Haley; later in the film, however, he is pulled back as he idolizes the Abbott family, and obsesses about the oldest daughter, Alice, thus seeking to jockey his way into the Abbott family.

At first, Doug (Joaquin Phoenix), the younger brother, admires and worships his brother's libertine lifestyle. However, as he matures, he discovers that all that glitters are not gold. He eventually falls in love with the youngest, virginal Abbott, Pamela (Liv Tyler), who protests his early, fumbling sexual advances, and she forces him to appreciate her for who she is, not what she may offer up to him. Meanwhile, Eleanor is sent away to stewardess school after she and Jacey are caught by Lloyd Abbott, who cannot keep them apart.

After two years of being apart from each other, Doug and Pamela meet again by chance while they are in college in Philadelphia. However, Doug and Jacey are brought back to Haley after their mother's death. They also find a letter from their late father that says he has sold their patent for a 1937 DeSoto Coupe convertible. Despite the obstacles that Lloyd Abbott places in the way of any of the Holt brothers ever seeing his daughters again, Doug convinces Abbott at the end of the story of his true love for Pamela and receives his blessing on a future relationship.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Joaquin Phoenix	Doug Holt
Billy Crudup	Jacey Holt
Liv Tyler	Pamela Abbott
Jennifer Connelly	Eleanor Abbott
Will Patton	Lloyd Abbott
Kathy Baker	Helen Holt
Joanna Going	Alice Abbott
Barbara Williams	Joan Abbott
Alessandro Nivola	Peter Vanlaningham
Michael Keaton	Narrator/Older Doug

DVD details

• Release date: March 13, 2001
• Anamorphic Widescreen
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Audio tracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1

English Dolby Digital Surround

French Dolby Digital Surround

• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Special Features: Theatrical trailer, Featurette
• Running time: 110 minutes

External links

• Inventing the Abbotts at the Internet Movie Database
• Inventing the Abbotts at AllRovi
• Inventing the Abbotts at Rotten Tomatoes