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.
Inventing the Abbotts
When you want it all but can't have it, there's only one way to handle life... invent it.
1997 · 1h 50m · R
Drama, Romance
Directed by
Pat O'Connor
Overview
In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.
Director and cast
- Pat O'Connor Director
- Joaquin Phoenix as Doug Holt
- Liv Tyler as Pamela Abbott
- Jennifer Connelly as Eleanor Abbott
- Billy Crudup as Jacey Holt
- Joanna Going as Alice Abbott
- Kathy Baker as Helen Holt
- Will Patton as Lloyd Abbott
- Michael Sutton as Steve
- Garrett M. Brown as Webb Crosby
- Barbara Williams as Joan Abbott
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Would be a lot more fun were it a trashy Troy Donahue-Diane McBain vehicle ground out by Warner Bros. in 1960.
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