Inventing the Abbotts

Inventing the Abbotts is a period drama set in the small Illinois town of Haley during the late 1950s. The Holt brothers come from the less prosperous side of town, while the Abbott family sits at the top of the local social order. Sensitive Doug Holt has long been close to Pamela Abbott, and his feelings for her are genuine. His older brother Jacey, by contrast, pursues the older Abbott sisters, Eleanor and Alice, with a different aim: he holds a grievance against the family and wants to settle a score. Both the Abbott patriarch and Jacey disapprove of Doug's romance with Pamela, and a long-hidden secret connecting the two families complicates the relationships that develop.

Pat O'Connor directed the film, his second feature after Cal, and the screenplay is by Ken Hixon. Joaquin Phoenix plays Doug, with Billy Crudup as Jacey, Liv Tyler as Pamela, Jennifer Connelly as Eleanor, Joanna Going as Alice and Kathy Baker as Helen Holt. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Janet Meyers produced it for Imagine Entertainment and Fox 2000 Pictures.

Released in April 1997 and running 110 minutes, the film drew modest audiences, taking in about six million dollars worldwide against the expectations of a studio drama built around a young ensemble. On IMDb it holds 6.4 from roughly 15,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.3 from about 273 votes. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 27 reviews sits a little below those audience scores, suggesting reviewers were less persuaded than viewers.