Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

SnoopyStyle It's 1957 Haley, Illinois. Brothers Jacey (Billy Crudup) and Doug Holt (Joaquin Phoenix) live with their mother (Kathy Baker). Lloyd Abbott (Will Patton) is the rich and powerful man around town who is constantly throwing lavish parties. He has 3 daughters. Jacey flirts with middle daughter Eleanor Abbott (Jennifer Connelly). Doug likes the youngest Pamela (Liv Tyler) but also falls for Eleanor. The latest party is to celebrate the announcement of oldest daughter Alice (Joanna Going)'s shotgun wedding. Jacey tells Doug that Lloyd Abbott screwed their family out of money from their father's patent which saved Abbott's company. Lloyd warns the girls against Jacey.First of all, I hate the narration. It adds nothing but annoyance. I hate that Michael Keaton is narrating as an older Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix could have done it himself. The whole thing frustrates me every time it comes up. As for the actors, some of them don't seem to fit. Billy Crudup is suppose to be a ladies man and that's at the edge of his range. Joaquin Phoenix is suppose to be shy and awkward but he's outgrown that Parenthood character. Generally, I don't like the light breezy tone. The material seems to be build for something darker. The movie just doesn't have any tension.

TxMike I had seen this movie a few years back but didn't retain much of it, except 'that' scene at about 17:44 with Jennifer Connelly. So I just watched it again on Netflix streaming movies. It is an even better movie than I remember it.Set in 1957 in the fictional town of Haley, Illinois, probably a suburb of Chicago, it is almost a 'romeo and juliet' story. Joaquin Phoenix is Doug Holt, the nice kid from the mediocre side of town, being raised by a single mom. He has an older brother, Billy Crudup as Jacey Holt. Jacey always seems angry, and often his anger is directed at the Abbott family. Will Patton is the father, Lloyd Abbott, from the successful side of town. He has three daughters and Jayce seems bent on taking each one of them to bed, which he accomplishes in a round about way.You see, Jacey grew up with several misconceptions about Lloyd Abbott. The first was that he took advantage of their mother and essentially stole a patent for a type of file cabinet, which resulted in his becoming wealthy. But in fact Doug eventually discovers that their dad had traded it away for a used car. The second was that Lloyd Abbott was responsible for their dad's death, when on a bet he drove on a frozen pond, and drowned when the ice broke. But the bet was their dad's idea, not Lloyd's.But all these misconceptions, plus probably others, drove Jacey's reckless behavior. For a while Doug tried to follow in big brother's footsteps until he realized better and became his own man. He always had a thing for the youngest Abbott sister, Liv Tyler as Pam Abbott, but embarrassed after letting Jacey seduce her she left town. Eventually Doug looked her up and, as the voice-over at the end says, a year later they were married and they had two daughters.Kathy Baker was good as the Holt mother, Helen. Jennifer Connelly was good as the middle sister Eleanor Abbott, who was sent off to a boarding school after her affair with Jayce was discovered.

wes-connors "In this classic coming-of-age tale, forbidden love and impossible dreams intertwine when the handsome, working class Holt brothers are drawn to the beautiful and wealthy Abbott sisters. With an all-star cast including Liv Tyler, Joaquin Phoenix, and Billy Crudup, 'Inventing the Abbotts' is," according to the DVD sleeve, a strongly told story "of hidden desires and romantic possibilities." Adding Jennifer Connelly and Joanna Going as the other two beautiful Abbott sisters gives you five good-looking performers engaged in various couplings. You will see that their "hidden desires" are all made fairly obvious. The film begins in 1957 small town Haley, Illinois, and has many obvious - but nice - period trappings. Ms. Connelly has an arousing topless scene.The story stresses the pairing of Mr. Phoenix (as Doug) and Ms. Tyler (as Pam), although Mr. Crudup (as Jacey) manages to steal most of the booty (both the film and the women). The "leads" suffer from being cast as teenagers. Doing the math (Phoenix is two years younger than high school senior Crudup) helps explain how they act. A fifteen-year-old would paint on "artificial sideburns" with India Ink while humming Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel". So, Phoenix is made to act unnaturally juvenile. As the most beautifully cast sisters, Ms. Going and Ms. Connelly excel in their smaller roles. You can also enjoy both Crudup's angst-ridden older brother, and secretive mother Kathy Baker (as Helen).****** Inventing the Abbotts (4/4/97) Pat O'Connor ~ Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Liv Tyler, Kathy Baker

David Bogosian To be honest, the main reason I saw this movie was because I wanted to see Liv Tyler. To my surprise, here she plays an awkward, gawkish young girl whose appeal is overshadowed by that of her two older sisters. But there is something so engaging and charming about her simplicity, her shyness, and her ability to follow her own path in spite of her family's wealth and social standing.All the cast are terrific, with Kathy Baker, Jennifer Connolly, Liv, and Joaquin Phoenix taking top honors. It is the type of movie that transports you to another time and place, and to another age. You feel what it was like to be 18 in 1957: the class differences, the social constraints related to dating, all the bittersweet ache of young love.At its core, this movie is about the relationship of two brothers. The narration begins with that, and really that is the core that unites all the other subplots. It's a fascinating relationship too, because they are so different yet their paths end up crossing in so many ways. And at the end, it's clear that the viewer is going to be drawn to one (Doug), but yet the other (JC) is not condemned or criticized; you just come to understand that he is driven to do the asinine things he does by powers he cannot seem to tame within himself.I also have to say I was delighted by the fact that the protagonists (Doug and Pam) are modest and moral in their relationship, while the screwed up characters (JC, Eleanor) are promiscuous and amoral. It would have been easy to conform to stereotypes and have Doug and Pam in bed at the earliest opportunity, but the fact that they don't adds tension and drama and ultimately makes for an excellent story. There are a handful of instances of the F-word, and two brief sexual scenes, otherwise this would have been a great movie for younger teens as well.Overall, an excellent movie, badly underrated by IMDb users, and well worth the watching. I gave it 8 stars.