Abandon (film)
Encyclopedia
Abandon is a 2002 American thriller film released by Paramount Pictures
and Touchstone Pictures
. It was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan
, starring Katie Holmes
as a college student whose boyfriend (Charlie Hunnam
) disappeared two years previously. Despite being set at an American university, much of the movie was filmed in Canada at McGill University
's McConnell Hall.
It is based on the book Adams Fall
by Sean Desmond. Incidentally, the book was re-titled Abandon for the movie tie-in paperback printing.
The film co-stars Zooey Deschanel
and Elizabeth Whitmere
, with Benjamin Bratt
playing the detective investigating the boyfriend's disappearance. It received generally negative reviews, with Variety
magazine dismissing it as "a tricked-up Fatal Attraction
wannabe". Coincidentally, Fatal Attraction was also released by Paramount.
At the same time, Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), an ex-alcoholic, is given a new case by his lieutenant (Fred Ward). It concerns a missing person named Embry Larkin (Charlie Hunnam). Embry was a rich orphan. Handler finds out that Embry was Katie's boyfriend when he disappeared. Handler contacts Katie, who says she's not sure if Embry disappeared, left school, or both. She also seems to be generally irritated by Handler.
Katie, Sam and some friends including Harrison (Gabriel Mann) and Amanda (Gabrielle Union) go to a party one night, so that Katie can relax from constant stress and exhaustion, mostly because of her thesis and wondering if she's going to get her job. All of them get drunk/stoned, and during a cool strobe light effect scene, Katie thinks she sees Embry lurking. A few days later, she goes outside and thinks she sees him again, driving away in a car. Handler tells Katie that he thinks Embry is dead, because he had two airplane tickets to Greece that he has never used, not to mention never having taken any money or credit out of an account or anything.
One night while Katie is studying hard for her thesis, she falls asleep, completely exhausted. When she wakes up, a number has been inscribed in the desk where she was sitting. It's a number for a library book. She goes to shelf where the book is, titled "The Inferno".
Suddenly, she sees what are presumably Embry's eyes staring at her from the other side of the shelf. She slowly backs out. He's gone.
Handler talks to Sam, Amanda and Harrison about Katie and Embry. Sam tells him that Embry didn't like Katie's male friends. Harrison, who has long had a crush on Katie but doesn't seem to realize the feeling isn't mutual, tells Handler than Embry once put him in the hospital because he poked him with a glass bottle. Harrison confesses to Katie that he loves her, but she says he's a great guy, but she doesn't feel the same.
The next day, Katie is again in the library, hard at work. An odd girl in the library, Mousy Julie (Melanie Lynskey) bothers her. Julie tells her that Harrison has disappeared. Katie is convinced that Embry is responsible for Harrison's disappearance. Katie has lunch with Harrison's parents who are trying to account for his disappearance. While in the restaurant, Embry sits at another table. Katie storms outside and yells at him. He tells her to come to his country house, which was a nesting spot for the two before Embry disappeared.
Katie goes there, and falls asleep again. When she wakes up, Embry is playing the piano. She tries to leave, but Embry follows her. Eventually he pins her against the wall, but she knees him in the groin and escapes. She goes over to Handler's apartment. Katie and Handler have sex, and in the middle, she imagines Handler transforming into Embry. She gets this out of her head, and she realizes that for the first time in a while, she's happy, sitting there with Handler. She also completes her thesis.
Handler goes to a DNA expert, who tells him that a note that Embry has supposedly just written Katie was written 2 years before. Handler gets in his car, and buys an alcoholic drink, stressed. He drinks, but quickly spits it out. Katie is waiting on some steps for Handler to pick her up. They are going to go off somewhere together for a little. Embry suddenly attacks her, telling her that wherever she goes, he'll find her. Handler shows up, and Katie tells him what just happened.
Katie and Handler go into an old tunnel that Katie and Embry used to hang out in a lot.
Handler has his gun and flashlight. Katie continues to see Embry, but Handler doesn't. Suddenly, we flash back to Katie and Embry, 2 years before, in that same tunnel they're in now. Embry tells Katie that he's leaving and that he never wants to see her again. Katie gets upset, talking about the trip to Greece they're supposed to take together. Suddenly, Katie picks up a rock and repeatedly smashes Embry over the head with it, killing him. Katie is crazy because her father did the same thing to her when she was little. He abandoned her.
Handler realizes that Katie is a psycho and that he can't go off with her. Katie picks up another rock and hits Handler over the head with it, plunging him to the water where he ultimately dies. We cut forward a few months. Katie is at her job that she wanted, when a man she is supposedly seeing who works with her tells her that he's going to get promoted, and he doesn't think they should be dating each other.
Katie gets a look on her face...
gave the movie a 17% rating, concluding that the plotline is “disjointed and muddled.”
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
. It was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan is an American screenwriter and director. He is noted for writing the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's film Traffic, based on a Channel 4 series, for which he won the Academy Award, as well as Syriana which he wrote and directed.-Childhood and education:Born in either Louisville,...
, starring Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
as a college student whose boyfriend (Charlie Hunnam
Charlie Hunnam
Charles Matthew "Charlie" Hunnam is an English actor. He is perhaps best known to UK audiences as Pete Dunham in Green Street Hooligans and as Nathan Maloney in the Channel 4 hit drama Queer as Folk and to US audiences as Vice President of Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original Jackson...
) disappeared two years previously. Despite being set at an American university, much of the movie was filmed in Canada at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
's McConnell Hall.
It is based on the book Adams Fall
Adams Fall
Adams Fall is writer Sean Desmond's first novel and is based around the events which occur to a college student in his senior year at Harvard University...
by Sean Desmond. Incidentally, the book was re-titled Abandon for the movie tie-in paperback printing.
The film co-stars Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...
and Elizabeth Whitmere
Elizabeth Whitmere
Elizabeth Whitmere is a Canadian actress working in the United States and Canada. Born and raised in northern Canada, she draws on her experiences there, in the Maritimes, in Montreal, and in Massachusetts in the development of her characters and her stand-up comedy routines.Whitmere appeared in...
, with Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
playing the detective investigating the boyfriend's disappearance. It received generally negative reviews, with Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine dismissing it as "a tricked-up Fatal Attraction
Fatal Attraction
Fatal Attraction is a 1987 American thriller blended with horror, directed by Adrian Lyne and stars Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer. The film centers around a married man who has a weekend affair with a woman who refuses to allow it to end, resulting in emotional blackmail, stalking...
wannabe". Coincidentally, Fatal Attraction was also released by Paramount.
Plot
The movie starts off with Katie Burke (Katie Holmes) sitting on some stairs. Her friend Sam (Zooey Deschenal) goes with her for a walk. Katie is going to a workshop for some sort of agency that she wants to work at when she gets out of college. We see that Katie is also under severe pressure to complete her thesis.At the same time, Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), an ex-alcoholic, is given a new case by his lieutenant (Fred Ward). It concerns a missing person named Embry Larkin (Charlie Hunnam). Embry was a rich orphan. Handler finds out that Embry was Katie's boyfriend when he disappeared. Handler contacts Katie, who says she's not sure if Embry disappeared, left school, or both. She also seems to be generally irritated by Handler.
Katie, Sam and some friends including Harrison (Gabriel Mann) and Amanda (Gabrielle Union) go to a party one night, so that Katie can relax from constant stress and exhaustion, mostly because of her thesis and wondering if she's going to get her job. All of them get drunk/stoned, and during a cool strobe light effect scene, Katie thinks she sees Embry lurking. A few days later, she goes outside and thinks she sees him again, driving away in a car. Handler tells Katie that he thinks Embry is dead, because he had two airplane tickets to Greece that he has never used, not to mention never having taken any money or credit out of an account or anything.
One night while Katie is studying hard for her thesis, she falls asleep, completely exhausted. When she wakes up, a number has been inscribed in the desk where she was sitting. It's a number for a library book. She goes to shelf where the book is, titled "The Inferno".
Suddenly, she sees what are presumably Embry's eyes staring at her from the other side of the shelf. She slowly backs out. He's gone.
Handler talks to Sam, Amanda and Harrison about Katie and Embry. Sam tells him that Embry didn't like Katie's male friends. Harrison, who has long had a crush on Katie but doesn't seem to realize the feeling isn't mutual, tells Handler than Embry once put him in the hospital because he poked him with a glass bottle. Harrison confesses to Katie that he loves her, but she says he's a great guy, but she doesn't feel the same.
The next day, Katie is again in the library, hard at work. An odd girl in the library, Mousy Julie (Melanie Lynskey) bothers her. Julie tells her that Harrison has disappeared. Katie is convinced that Embry is responsible for Harrison's disappearance. Katie has lunch with Harrison's parents who are trying to account for his disappearance. While in the restaurant, Embry sits at another table. Katie storms outside and yells at him. He tells her to come to his country house, which was a nesting spot for the two before Embry disappeared.
Katie goes there, and falls asleep again. When she wakes up, Embry is playing the piano. She tries to leave, but Embry follows her. Eventually he pins her against the wall, but she knees him in the groin and escapes. She goes over to Handler's apartment. Katie and Handler have sex, and in the middle, she imagines Handler transforming into Embry. She gets this out of her head, and she realizes that for the first time in a while, she's happy, sitting there with Handler. She also completes her thesis.
Handler goes to a DNA expert, who tells him that a note that Embry has supposedly just written Katie was written 2 years before. Handler gets in his car, and buys an alcoholic drink, stressed. He drinks, but quickly spits it out. Katie is waiting on some steps for Handler to pick her up. They are going to go off somewhere together for a little. Embry suddenly attacks her, telling her that wherever she goes, he'll find her. Handler shows up, and Katie tells him what just happened.
Katie and Handler go into an old tunnel that Katie and Embry used to hang out in a lot.
Handler has his gun and flashlight. Katie continues to see Embry, but Handler doesn't. Suddenly, we flash back to Katie and Embry, 2 years before, in that same tunnel they're in now. Embry tells Katie that he's leaving and that he never wants to see her again. Katie gets upset, talking about the trip to Greece they're supposed to take together. Suddenly, Katie picks up a rock and repeatedly smashes Embry over the head with it, killing him. Katie is crazy because her father did the same thing to her when she was little. He abandoned her.
Handler realizes that Katie is a psycho and that he can't go off with her. Katie picks up another rock and hits Handler over the head with it, plunging him to the water where he ultimately dies. We cut forward a few months. Katie is at her job that she wanted, when a man she is supposedly seeing who works with her tells her that he's going to get promoted, and he doesn't think they should be dating each other.
Katie gets a look on her face...
Cast
- Katie HolmesKatie HolmesKatherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
as Katie Burke - Benjamin BrattBenjamin BrattBenjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
as Wade Handler - Charlie HunnamCharlie HunnamCharles Matthew "Charlie" Hunnam is an English actor. He is perhaps best known to UK audiences as Pete Dunham in Green Street Hooligans and as Nathan Maloney in the Channel 4 hit drama Queer as Folk and to US audiences as Vice President of Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original Jackson...
as Embry Larkin - Zooey DeschanelZooey DeschanelZooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...
as Samantha Harper - Fred WardFred WardFreddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
as Lieutenant Bill Stayton - Mark FeuersteinMark Feuerstein-Career:Feuerstein got his break-through on television as a recurring character on the daytime soap opera Loving. When director Nancy Meyers was casting What Women Want, her daughter recognized Feuerstein from Practical Magic and insisted that her mother cast him...
as Robert Hanson - Melanie LynskeyMelanie LynskeyMelanie Jayne Lynskey is a New Zealand actress best known for playing Charlie Harper's neighbor/stalker Rose on Two and a Half Men, and a range of characters in films such as Win Win, Up in the Air, The Informant!, Away We Go, Flags of Our Fathers, Shattered Glass, Sweet Home Alabama, Ever After...
as Mousy Julie - Philip BoscoPhilip Bosco-Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy...
as Professor Jergensen - Gabriel Mann as Harrison Hobart
- Will McCormackWill McCormackWill McCormack is an American television and film actor.McCormack, who graduated Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, is the younger brother of actress Mary McCormack, who stars in the hit USA TV series In Plain Sight....
as August - Gabrielle UnionGabrielle UnionGabrielle Monique Union is an American actress and former model. Among her notable roles is as the cheerleader opposite Kirsten Dunst in the film Bring it On. Union starred opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the blockbuster film Bad Boys II and played a medical doctor in the CBS drama...
as Amanda Luttrell
Box office
The film opened at #7 at the U.S. Box office raking in $5,064,077 in its first opening weekend.Reception
Reception has been mostly negative. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave the movie a 17% rating, concluding that the plotline is “disjointed and muddled.”
External links
- Abandon at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- Review of the book on which the film is based, Adams FallAdams FallAdams Fall is writer Sean Desmond's first novel and is based around the events which occur to a college student in his senior year at Harvard University...
by Sean Desmond