''Andover'' is a 2017 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by Scott Perlman and starring

Jonathan Silverman Jonathan Elihu Silverman (born August 5, 1966) is an American actor, known for his roles in the comedy films ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and its sequel ''Weekend at Bernie's II''. Early life and education Silverman was ...

Jennifer Finnigan Jennifer Christina Finnigan (born August 22, 1979) is a Canadians, Canadian actress, best known for her role as Bridget Forrester in the American soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' from 2000 to 2004, for which she won three Daytime Emmy Aw ...

, and

Scout Taylor-Compton Scout Taylor-Compton (born Desariee Starr Compton; February 21, 1989) is an American actress. She has frequently worked in the horror genre, most notably as Laurie Strode in the 2007 remake of ''Halloween'' and its 2009 sequel. Outside of horr ...

. The film had a limited theatrical release on May 4 in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Chicago and was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, and

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

in the United States on July 17, 2018.

Plot

A genetics professor's wife dies in a fire at her glass blowing studio, but he finds her brush with a few of her hairs in it. He and his grad student assistant make a clone of her, but there are problems. He keeps trying with slight changes to her environment. He becomes so obsessed with trying to make the perfect match that he doesn't realize that his assistant has fallen in love with him. Also, the life insurance adjuster isn't convinced that she really is dead. The lab assistant then tries to clone the professor so she can have the person she loves, but he is unresponsive to her overtures. The professor finally is able to make a clone and have it raised by the girl's original parents. She is identical to his wife, but she says she doesn't love him. He returns her to her parents. Meanwhile, the life insurance adjuster accuses the professor of faking his wife's death, and offers to approve the claim on the condition that the professor gives him the $1,000,000 policy payout. The professor kills the adjuster, then clones him. He gets the clone drunk, and calls the police on him. He gets to keep the payout. The professor and grad student reconnect and realize that they should be together, but they have to deal with the professor and his former wife's clones. Sure enough, the clones fall in love, and we know they will be as happy as the professor and his wife were. And we know the professor and his lab assistant will be happy together too.

Cast

as Adam Slope *

as Dawn Slope *

as Emma *

Richard Kind Richard Bruce Kind (born November 22, 1956) is an American actor and comedian, known for his roles as Dr. Mark Devanow in ''Mad About You'' (1992–1999, 2019), Paul Lassiter in ''Spin City'' (1996–2002), Andy in ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (2002 ...

as Harold *

Beth Grant Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy ''The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her role as Gracie L ...

as Rebecca *

Richard Portnow Richard Portnow (born January 26, 1947) is an American actor known for such films and television series as ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', ''Barton Fink'', ''Kindergarten Cop'', ''Seven'', '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'', ''The Spirit'', ''Law ...

as Shamus Trout *

Angela Kinsey Angela Faye Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013) and appeared in the sitcoms '' Your Family or Mine'' (2015) and ''Haters Back Off'' (2016–2017). Since ''The ...

as Helen *

Bai Ling Bai Ling (, born October 10, 1966) is a Chinese-American actress known for her work in the films ''The Crow'', ''Nixon'', ''Red Corner'', '' Crank: High Voltage'', ''Dumplings'', ''Wild Wild West'', ''Anna and the King'', ''Southland Tales'', and ...

as Professor Huan *

Steven Bauer Steven Bauer (born Esteban Ernesto Echevarría Samson; December 2, 1956) is a Cuban-born American actor. Bauer began his career on PBS, portraying Joe Peña, the son of Cuban immigrants on '' ¿Qué Pasa, USA?'' (1977–1980) and is perhaps most ...

as Father Gregory * Thomas Q. Jones as Wyatt *

Scott Krinsky Scott Krinsky (born November 24, 1968) is an American actor and comic best known for his role as Jeffrey "Jeff" Barnes on the hit TV series ''Chuck (TV series), Chuck'' and his role as Darryl on ''The O.C.'' He was born in Washington, D.C., in ...

as Lester *GeorgeAnne Carden as Molly

Casting

Shannon Makhanian was the casting director as well as one of the producers. She cast the movie

Brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

which was the directorial debut of

Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film ''Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget. Transition ...

Jonathan Lipnicki Jonathan William Lipnicki (born October 22, 1990) is an American actor who is known for his roles as a child actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Jerry Maguire'' (1996), ''Stuart Little (film), Stuart Little'' (1999) and its 2002 sequel '' ...

from

Jerry Maguire ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was inspi ...

does a cameo as a college student. Thomas Q. Jones the former running back from the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

plays Dawn's ex-boyfriend Wyatt.

and

are married in real life.

Production

Set in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, ''Andover'' was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. ''Andover'' was shot in three weeks for under $300,000 under the SAG ultra-low-budget agreement. Several scenes were shot at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California.

Release

''Andover'' had its world premiere was at the 2017

Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada,"Cinefest provides cultural landmark". ''Sudbury Star'', September 16, 1999. held over nine ...

. The US premiere was at The

Orlando Film Festival The Orlando Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Orlando, Florida, for independent filmmakers to showcase their work. The festival attracts upwards of 1,000 entries from filmmakers in more than 30 countries every year. History The ...

and went on to screen at a number of other film festivals including the

New Jersey Film Festival The New Jersey Film Festival is New Jersey's largest continuing public film series devoted to "experimental, offbeat and influential cinema". It is held in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was started in 1981 and is hosted by Albert Gabriel Nigrin. Th ...

and the

Boston Science Fiction Film Festival The Boston Science-Fiction Film Festival hosted its 47th-anniversary festival in February of 2022, making it the 2nd oldest independent genre film festival in the US. The festival takes place each year in February, the week ending on President's D ...

where

won the Best Actor Award.

Awards and nominations

* Best Feature Film (2017

) * Audience Choice Award (

) * Best Actress

(

) * Best Actor

(

) *

and

were nominated for best supporting actor and actress at the

* Scott Perlman was nominated for best director and best screenplay at the

Reception

''Andover'' had a limited theatrical release and received mixed reviews from critics. Ben Cahlamer from ''Electric Bento'' said "With Mr. Perlman’s deft hand and the child-like wonderment that is Jonathan Silverman in the lead, you can be assured that Andover is unlike any other romantic comedy you’ve seen. Its heart leaps off the screen and reminds us that it’s okay to love and let go over and over." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said, "This choppy film, which is saddled with a subplot about a dogged insurance agent (Richard Portnow), becomes more mechanical than emotional, leapfrogging time, logic and process as it scrambles to its too clever-by-half conclusion."

Home media

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an independent film distribution company owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles, California in 2006 and moved its headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio in 2019, where it f ...

released ''Andover'' on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming in the US on July 17, 2018.

Soundtrack

All the songs were performed by The Pouts featuring Nadia Lanfranconi.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5605076, Andover 2017 films American science fiction films American romantic comedy films Films about cloning 2010s English-language films 2010s American films