come back home for their mother's funeral, they find the document confirming their late father had sold his patent for the very car he drove to his death on the lake. This knowledge doesn't comfort J.C., who still finds it deeply unfair that they were denied the wealth of the Abbotts for futile reasons. In the end, Doug convinces Lloyd of his true love for Pamela and the two finally find each other for good. The adult Doug who's narrating the story recounts how they married one year later and eventually gave birth to two daughters. Cast Liv Tyler as Pamela Abbott Joaquin Phoenix as Doug Holt Billy Crudup as John Charles "J.C." Holt Jennifer Connelly as Eleanor Abbott Will Patton as Lloyd Abbott Kathy Baker as Helen Holt Joanna Going as Alice Abbott Barbara Williams as Joan Abbott Alessandro Nivola as Peter Vanlaningham Michael Keaton as The Narrator / Older Doug Holt Zoe McLellan as Sandy Production Though the film is set in rural Illinois, it was mostly shot in the region of Northern California, including the areas of Healdsburg, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa. The University of the Pacific in Stockton stood in for scenes set at the University of Pennsylvania. Reception Inventing the Abbotts was not well received by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 33% based on reviews from 27 critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a score of 49 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert, in a 2-star review, praised the acting and the art direction, but criticized the story and slow pacing, saying the film lacked “the cheerful love of human nature that enlivened…Circle of Friends,” Pat O’Connor’s previous film which was also about young love in the 1950s. Janet Maslin of the New York Times said of the young cast: “[Joaquin] Phoenix, so memorably mixed up and inarticulate in "To Die For," steps solidly into the assertive role of this film's narrator. [Billy] Crudup smolders well and leaves no mystery about J.C.'s power to attract the sisters. Ms. Connelly, often cast in cheesecake roles, gives this one a sly, vixenish spark.” Emanuel Levy of Variety said the “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