
DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997              TAG: 9704090055

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie Review 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

NEW STARS BRIGHTEN '50S-ERA ``ABBOTTS''

WHEN GOOD girls go wrong, guys go right after them.

The point is made, several times, in ``Inventing the Abbotts,'' the new film set in the postwar 1950s amid class wars and loosening morals.

In Haley, Ill., smalltown Americana, the wealthy Abbott sisters are at the center of the teen social world. The Holt brothers, who live, symbolically, on the other side of the tracks, covet the sisters from afar.

And so it goes in this film, which seeks to be a coming-of-age classic to rank with the likes of ``Rebel Without a Cause'' (rebellion) or ``Splendor in the Grass'' (sexual repression).

``Inventing the Abbotts'' has a highly attractive cast, made up of new stars, but it falls short of its goal in the pacing. It is bit languid, even though a great deal DOES take place.

Liv Tyler, settling down to real stardom after a year of endless magazine covers, plays Pam, the sensible youngest sister. She still has those Ava Gardner eyes but we are slowly being forced to recognize, in spite of her movie-star looks, that her acting range is presently limited to little more than a bland look and a whispering voice. Alice, the eldest, played by an intense Joanna Going (of ``Wyatt Earp'') is forced into a loveless marriage because of Abbott standing. The middle daughter, Eleanor, is a rebel. She is played by Jennifer Connelly, who has an innocent look and an awesome upper-body physique.

The Holt brothers include gawky, groping but sweet Doug, played by Joaquin Phoenix (younger brother of River), and manipulating, seductive Jacey (played by University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill alumni Billy Crudup). It is Crudup who has the more difficult role. We are asked to believe that just about every female in his age bracket falls for him - including all three Abbott girls. He's getting the kind of Hollywood build-up that may be difficult to sustain, even though he has impressive Broadway credentials.

The Abbotts' father is played by Will Patton, as a man who resents young Jacey because he recognizes the kind of aggressive behavior that once was his own. After all, Daddy Abbott only got into the social register by marrying into the Abbott family.

Kathy Bates is particularly good as the Holts' mother. For years, there's been gossip that she once had an affair with the head of the Abbott family - just the kind of gossip that inflicts small towns.

Pat O'Connor, the director, had the same type nostalgic teen drama with ``Circle of Friends'' in 1995. The music score, by Michael Kamen is soaring, and fully orchestrated, although it doesn't have anything that is likely to hit the charts, such as the theme from ``A Summer Place,'' the epitome of the genre.

``Inventing the Abbotts'' may be soap opera but it is highly appealing as nostalgia - from sound bites, to automobiles, clothes, and, most of all, feeling. The 1950s have seldom been re-created with such lavish detail.

``Inventing the Abbotts'' may be more a re-invention than an invention, but sparked by new faces, it is quite entertaining. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

What: ``Inventing the Abbotts''

Cast: Liv Tyler, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Jennifer

Connelly, Joanna Going, Will Patton, Kathy Baker

Director: Pat O'Connor

Screenplay: Kern Hixon, based on a story by Sue Miller

Music: Michael Kamen

MPAA rating: R (one brief nude scene, language, sexual

situations)

Mal's rating: 3 stars <