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Inventing the Abbotts Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 13 Reviews)

Thematically Brilliant
I admit, I haven't watched this movie recently (say, within the last 5 years), but it really struck a chord with me. This movie explores the theme of projection, i.e., seeing people as it is convenient to see them or as you want to see them, which may have very little to do with what they are really like.

John inculcates his runaway obsession about the Abbotts to his younger brother, Doug. Doug learns later to sift through John's inventive narrative and arrive at his own conclusions.

I read another review that praised this film as a "showcase for young talent." In my book, that comment seems very close to the mark. Liv Tyler and Joaquin Phoenix brilliantly portray the "class-crossed" lovers.

When hate distorts ... only love can heal
Sweet and wonderful, generational romance, a son wanting to avenge his father's demise, revenge through manipulation, and a love that actually wins in the end. Liv Tyler is brilliant.

Scenes from the class struggle in Illinois...
This film is notable in that it does address the issue of socioeconomic class, which we Americans like to delude ourselves does not exist in our society but which always has and in all probability always will play as central a role as in any society regardless of political ideology.

Two main strengths: a very strong cast (particularly Joaquin Phoenix---as well as Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly, Joanna Going, Liv Tyler, and Kathy Baker) and very true-to-period set pieces. It really does look and feel like it's happening back in the mythical 1950s, such that a lot of scenes where I was expecting much stronger language and violence successfully avoided such excesses. This seems to irk many professional reviewers, who panned this film for being bland and uninspiring---hence the shockingly low 33% rating from rottentomatoes dot com.

However I found it very engaging, and of course the 2 older Abbot sisters provide plenty of tasteful eye candy (their mother too, in a cold-blooded rich-b*tch sexy kind of way, heh). The plot was not nearly as predictable as I feared, with several surprising twists and again avoids the kind of sensationalism and viciousness that this jaded viewer was expecting.

In fact while this film deals very much with issues of socioeconomic class it concludes with a surprisingly Reaganistic ending. We see that the rich are not really as evil as we think, and that the poor become and stay poor not without fault of their own, and that if you are blessed with sufficient earnestness, industriousness and True Love like the Joaquin Phoenix character, you need only follow your heart and hallelujah ye shall too be delivered from the workers' quarter to the master's quarters with his comely daughter in tow...God bless Amurrica, yee haw!

LOL I am extrapolating and exaggerating a bit, the ending is not that bad---far from Steven Spielbergian levels of cheesiness for example. Overall it's worth seeing, not sure just how many times though.

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