Our rating: 2 out of 5

Rated: R

reviewed by Charity Bishop
 

Stories set in the 1950's always have a particular charm, but frequently fail to represent life as it truly was during an age of stringent morality and hints of rebellion. Inventing the Abbotts is an interesting but ultimately unsatisfying story about a young man's quest to emulate his brother's troubling behavior.

Every small town has a family that seems like royalty. In the world of Doug and Jacey Holt (Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup), this family appears to be the Abbotts. Their neighbors across the street and known for their sensational annual parties, the Abbotts are wealthy and influential -- and have three daughters. Alice (Joanna Going) is mild mannered and just got engaged to an overbearing society boy, Eleanor (Jennifer Connelly) is known around town for being "loose," and Pamela (Liv Tyler) is pretty much uninteresting. Her desire not to cause trouble prevents her from gaining too much attention and makes it easy for her to befriend Doug when he turns up at the party with "fake" sideburns. When not emulating Elvis Presley, Doug is envisioning having half as much success with women as Jacey is. Mostly, he dreams about Eleanor -- who is shipped off to no-one-knows-where after flaunting her relationship with Jacey in her father's face.

Dealing with the turmoil of growing up, poverty, and attempting to look after his mother, Doug seems to have one argument after another with Pamela. In the meantime, his brother turns his attention and affection to the eldest Abbott sister, little realizing the potential consequences. It is something of a coming of age story but at the same time, this film does not seem to have a purpose. There's no real beginning or end apart from Doug eventually finding out that it may be possible to have what he wants. To be honest, I didn't like it much. I did not like the loose morals of the Abbott girls and I did not like Jacey for his inappropriate and offensive behavior. I didn't feel much sympathy or affection toward Doug either, since he seemed rather bland as a character and I cannot identify with any of his ambitions or dreams. I thought Jacey working his way sexually through the Abbott girls was revolting, and none of the mild twists and turns to the plot really caught me by surprise.

Then too there was the content -- a slew of f-words that seem blatantly out of place in a small town in an era that was still dominated by good behavior -- only trailer trash and drunks talked like these boys and girls did. The f-word is thrown around as an insult as well as an expression of behavior. There's a handful of harsh abuses of deity and one or two uses of GD, along with quite a few profanities. The boys have a dramatic fistfight that winds up with some damage to a neighbor's potting shed. Sensuality is more problematic. There are three brief but explicit sex scenes, two of them with nudity (upper female in two of them, male backside in another; the third is clothed). There are other scenes of making out; a woman deliberately grabs a man's crotch as she says goodbye, just to irritate her father, who is waiting for her to get in the car. Doug attempts to get to third base with Pamela; he kisses and gropes her, tries putting his hand down her shirt and up her skirt, but she gets upset and stops him.

The cast is very good and it was nice to see Liv Tyler in such a demure role; she does well with these kinds of parts, since she has an innocence about her that contributes well to "girl next door" characters. I was sorry that the movie did not focus more around her and less around her sisters, because she was the sweetest and most innocent one (at least for most of the film -- there is a twist with her that I didn't like much). There is a little humor present and some sweet moments, but mostly I was disgusted by everyone's behavior. I have known girls who have broken their parents hearts through such behavior and so it is hard for me to not to condemn characters like that, even on screen. It just didn't grab me because it did not seem like much of a real story. There were many little moments of conflict but no major turning points. None of the characters had anything redeeming to offer; their lives were empty and meaningless without any indication that anything would truly change. And that is truly tragic.