“Inventing the Abbotts” quotes

“- Pamela Abbott: Who do you look more like, your mother or your father?
- Doug Holt: Oh, I don't know.
- Pamela Abbott: What did your father look like?
- Doug Holt: Like a photograph.”
Liv Tyler - Pamela Abbott
Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt

“Jacey pretended to care for Alice so well, the illusion became so complete that even he was fooled.”
Michael Keaton - Narrator

“- Pamela Abbott: You don't know my father, you don't know how he is about Jacey. He blames him for everything that happened with Eleanor.
- Doug Holt: Look, Eleanor flirts with a lot of guys. It's not Jacey's fault your dad kicked her out.”
Liv Tyler - Pamela Abbott
Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt

“Backyard nudity is hypocritical. It's insincere. People should do and say exactly what they feel and think and not try to hide things.”
Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt

“My mother once told me that if the Abbotts didn't exist, my brother would have had to invent them.”
Michael Keaton - Narrator

“I know all there is to know about screwing your way into a wealthy family and there's no way I'm gonna let you screw your way into mine.”

Will Patton - Lloyd Abbott

“A year later, the impossible finally happened. One of the Holt boys married one of the Abbott girls. We had two daughters. Named the youngest Helen, after my mom.”

Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt

“My brother and I were born strangers. Same last name, same address, but everything else about us was different. Back then, Jacey was a complete mystery to me, and I was a constant source of embarassment to him.”

Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt

“The end of my innocence and childhood began in 1957. It is remarkable to me now just how little I knew then about the people around me. It took me years to figure out exactly what the truth was, especially given my brother's knack at inventing facts.”

Michael Keaton - Narrator

“Everything Jacey wanted in life, the Abbotts already had: their cars, money, country clubs. But in the beginning, more than anything else, he wanted Eleanor Abbott. I'd witnessed enough of my brother's social agony to resolve early on. I would never let the Abbotts matter to me.”
Michael Keaton - Narrator

There's different kinds of love, darling. Some people you love no matter what, and others you love if the situation is right. To me, the best kind of love is the "No matter what" kind.
Kathy Baker - Helen Holt

“- Doug Holt: You always loved me no matter what I did, right?
- Pamela Abbott: Yeah.
- Doug Holt: Maybe that's how I love you. No matter what. It's the best kind of love.”
Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt
Liv Tyler - Pamela Abbott

“Alice is the good daughter, Eleanor's the bad one, and I'm the one that sort of gets off the hook. It's just the way it works.”
Liv Tyler - Pamela Abbott

“I have plans for my daughters, Mr. Holt; they don't include you. I know you: I know you better than you know me.”

Will Patton - Lloyd Abbott

“- Doug Holt: I'm not like you, Jacey. I don't want to be.
- Jacey Holt: I'm sorry.
- Doug Holt: Yeah, you are.”
Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt
Billy Crudup - Jacey Holt

“- Co-ed: I'm engaged.
- Jacey Holt: So am I.
- Co-ed: You are?
- Jacey Holt: Sure. I'm engaged in conversation with you.”
Julie Benz - Co-ed
Billy Crudup - Jacey Holt

“My mother's life had been damaged by a lie, and my brother was forever lost in a maze of illusions that lie had created... and I had followed him there. Jacey would never find his way out, but I had to... and the only way I could do that was to forgive, but I could never forget.”
Michael Keaton - Narrator

“- Doug Holt: Either you're mad at me because you're mad at me, or you're mad at me because you like me, because that's how girls act. I don't know much but I know that. So, which is it?
- Pamela Abbott: Both.”
Joaquin Phoenix - Doug Holt
Liv Tyler - Pamela Abbott

“The truth about our mother and Lloyd didn't comfort Jacey, because the truth seemed to him just as unfair as the lie he had always believed in.”
Michael Keaton - Narrator

“- Alice Abbott: I'm married.
- Jacey Holt: I thought you were getting a divorce.
- Alice Abbott: I am, but it's not final yet.”
Joanna Going - Alice Abbott
Billy Crudup - Jacey Holt

“I'm not rich, my father is. And I didn't pick my father. And if I had a choice between having tons of money or having another father, I'd be absolutely delighted to be poor.”

Liv Tyler - Pamela Abbott