Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous independent film
Review: If there is one thing that is striking about this film it is the sheer believability of it. This is an extremely human story stripped down to everyday realities in the lives of ordinary people. This is certainly one of the best and most compelling films of 2000. Writer/director Ken Lonergan, who as a writer has given us such deep and subtle works as "Analyze This" and "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" has outdone himself by light years with this moving story of regular folks dealing with common problems.Lonergan's direction of the actors is superb. He always seems to strike just the right emotional note without the need for flashy technical tricks or stylized cuts and camera angles. He lets the actors and their story dominate the screen, and he doesn't attempt to insert his directorial ego into the frame. More and more I am coming to appreciate directors who know how to stay out of the way. The character development is deep and sensitively done. We learn to care about Sammy (Laura Linney) for her level headed strength and for Terry (Mark Ruffalo) despite his temperamental arrogance and loser mentality. Throughout the film, the viewer is tempted to exhort Sammy to slam the door on her brother, though we know she can't do and shouldn't do it. In the end, the bond between them is so touching and noble that it transcends the adversity through which they put one another. Schmaltzy? Yes, but an all too real portrayal of how people often do what they must instead of what they should. Laura Linney delivers a career performance in this film garnering a Best Actress nomination from the Academy. It was an honor that was well deserved. Linney makes Sammy a character that is admirable and lovable despite her human foibles. It is a performance that runs broad and deep, examining the many facets and emotions of this middle class woman struggling to maintain her dignity and confer strong values to her son. Mark Ruffalo is also outstanding as the embittered brother suffering from deep seated insecurities. Ruffalo delivers a powerful portrayal of young man whose disappointments in life have gotten the better of him. Yet despite the hardness of the character, he is able to show a gentle vulnerability and sincere affection with Sammy that makes many of the scenes so poignant. The brother-sister chemistry between Linney and Ruffalo is perfect, at times nasty and resentful in its familiarity, yet with an underlying bond of love that is indestructible. Matthew Broderick is effective as Sammy's supercilious boss, who is more concerned with arbitrary rules than with the people that work for him. Broderick, who is accustomed to playing quirky but likeable characters, does surprisingly well as the jerk. His clueless insensitivity is a good imitation of the many people who let a little authority go to their heads. This film shows that an independent film with a microscopic budget can outdo the major studios armed only with an honest, simple story and an insightful director. I rated it a 10/10. It is one of the best character studies I have seen in some time. It is a treat for the refined viewer.
Rating:
Summary: Not Many Dramas Will I Sit Thru Twice ... Consecutively!
Review: Largely a science fiction and/or action and/or blockbuster comedy person, I still read the newspaper reviews on YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, a small film from Paramount Classics that was greeted warmly by critics across the US. When it was released at the local Blockbuster, I noticed that it was rarely unavailable (I would suspect that was due to its limited release), so I picked it up. Immediately, I was struck by the emotional story of a dysfunctional brother & sister. I was so captivated by the performances (Laura Linney DESERVED the Oscar) that I had to watch the film a second time b/c I couldn't believe something so grand could be accomplished on so small a scale. Sure ... maybe it's a chick flick (no offense intended) ... but it's in my personal collection, and I give it my highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Relation to Real life
Review: This film relates to average life in many ways. From the family screw-up who wants to leave the small town, the single mother who worries about everyone but herself, and the weasly boss who cheats on his wife. These characters are brought to life by subtle everyday actions. This movie is very laidback, but thoughtful. Linney's performance is highly genuine and reminds you of the religious hipocrite that we all know. Certainly not the best film of the year, but a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: easy to recommend
Review: I have no problems recommending this movie. Laura Linney certainly proved herself worthy of her Oscar Buzz, but Mark Ruffalo really took the cake. This guy is definately an up-and-comer: He's got the same devient look and humor as David Cross or Jeremy Piven, but when it really counts, he pulls back into a somber or even sullen state. It's very remarkable. The story is good, and the script allows for the reader to actually infer a few things instead of having everything flung in the audience's face, which is a nice departure. A lot of movies these days make everything so over-obvious you'd think the target audience was a kindergarten class. Not so here. To round things out, Matthew Broderick makes a wonderful weaselly character (think of his "Election" role) and Rory Caulkin does a bang-up job as Linney's 8-year-old son. There's a lot of touching moments and a sprinkling of humor as a single mother tries to fix everyone's lives (including her loser brother and overprotected son) except for her own. Check it out.
Rating:
Summary: hometown
Review: Everyone remarks how well this film was acted, and it is. Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, and Matthew Broderick as well as everyone else gives a stellar performance. I have to say, I am a little biased in reviewing thise film because it was filmed entirely in and around my small town of Margaretville in rural upstate, New York. The entire cast was wonderful. Local hangouts are used all the time, which makes the film evern more dear to all of us up here.
When you watch this film, pay attention to the opening shot around the beautiful Catskill Mountains, it doesn't get any better than that. In addition to the wonderful, funny and moving story line, pay attention to the scenery and you will get a little piece of what these actors got to experience while here.
Rating:
Summary: This is a hit
Review: The Amazon review has one thing right. This may be the best American movie this year. Don't believe the remainder of the review which makes this sound like another feel good Hollywood type family drama. Basically the story is of siblings who are dysfunctional in their own peculiar (and often very comical) ways. As a result, they are always at odds with one another despite the common bond of the events of their childhoods. The acting is superb and makes an already good script, an excellent movie. If you like small budget dramas that tell a good story, this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: A Completely "True" Story
Review: Though this movie was likely not based on actual events, everything about it rings true. Rarely have I seen such real characters or such a plausible story on film. Laura Linney deserved her nomination, but Mark Ruffalo was even more impressive. He will be one to watch! The ending made this movie a completely satisfying experience. Love, love, love this flick!!
Rating:
Summary: A little film that rewards multiple viewings
Review: The first time I saw it, "You Can Count On Me" seemed to whisper along quietly, content to make small statements about small people, but never really hitting the emotional home run that it really should have. I found the actors intriguing in their portrayals of an odd family with an odd dynamic, but not world-beating in any way. And I just didn't get what all the hype was about regarding the talents of the new writer/director Kenneth Lonergan. His work was fine and good, but nothing to write home about. That was the first time. The second time I saw it I was crushed. By the technical virtuosity of Lonergan's writing, his subtle but effective direction, the powerful performances of his actors, and the brutal honesty of the movie's emotional content. Laura Linney plays Sammy: older sister, mom, rock. She never left her home town, and lives in the house where she grew up, orphaned after her parents died in a car wreck. She has a son from a failed marriage, and a stable job down at the bank. Rory Culkin plays Rudy, her son, a quiet but intelligent 8-year old. And Mark Ruffalo plays Terry, Sammy's drifter brother, who seems to have taken a more destructive path after their parents' death. Essentially a low-key family drama, the film draws its powers from depicting how each character differs depending on who they're relating to at a given moment. Sammy and Terry's relationship forms the backbone of the movie. Terry, home just to borrow money from his more stable sis, feels threatened by her normalcy, and just wants to get on with his nomadic life. He is easily angered by Sammy, who's only looking out for his best interests. But he is also totally in awe of her. Sammy, for her part, is flabbergasted by her brother's chosen lifestyle, but also in a way envious of it. Their paradoxical relationship is perfectly summarized by a quiet scene on the porch, where one minute Sammy is angry at Terry's imperfections, but then admits to a few indiscretions of her own. All this over a joint. It's a wonderful way of showing the breadth of the relationship between these two adults, how they were once stupid kids together and can't quite seem to grow out of that. Linney, I think, has the toughest acting role here. She is asked to play a conservative mom with a hidden wild streak. You have to believe that these two opposing forces could exist within one woman, and Linney makes you do just that. Sammy's relationship with her son Rudy is typical mom and son stuff, but it also has the capacity to surprise. This is especially true in the moments when Rudy brings up his father. He's idealized this man he's never met, and Sammy is tormented over how much to tell the boy, and over how much he already knows. Culkin exhibits none of the histrionic tendencies that his older brother did at this age. Instead, he is quiet, direct, and economical. And his eyes show a true level of inquisitiveness that is difficult for actors his age. Rudy and Terry's relationship, nephew and long-lost uncle, highlights some of my favourite moments from the film. Terry, essentially a selfish loner, tries his darndest to be the older brother figure he thinks Rudy needs. He does his best to confound everyone's expectations of him (when picking up Rudy from school, Rudy -- and the audience -- first think Terry's forgotten. But then he turns around to see Terry grinning by the car. "You showed up," says Rudy. "Looks that way," Terry replies, proud as punch). Most of the time his intentions are good, but they cause more trouble than he expected. My favourite scene has Terry taking Rudy to a pool hall. Terry clears the table, but intentionally misses the 8-ball, leaving Rudy with an easy shot so they boy can enjoy their joint win in style. But should the 8-year old boy really have spent any time in the pool hall? Sammy surely doesn't think so. These are the scenes where Ruffalo truly shines. He is able to play boyish charm, protective uncle and repressed loner all at once, and he does it with an off-beat vocal drawl that draws you closer to Terry, even though you should know better. I'll quickly mention that I enjoyed Matthew Broderick's further distancing of himself from his Ferris Bueller persona, in an effective performance as a stuffy bank manager who disrupts Sammy's working life ("I like paper work," he says. Ew). And Lonergan himself plays the family priest. Although it's a role that's too wordy by half (especially in comparison to the rest of the economic script) Lonergan's banal delivery makes this modern holy man all the more real. Lonergan, behind the camera, shows us just what we need to see in order to follow along with the story. It never feels like you're having situations explained to you, but rather like you're eavesdropping on people's lives, which is the mark of a good screenwriter. He accomplishes this by entering and leaving scenes at the latest and earliest possible moment. Witness the opening scene, when a cop shows up at the Prescott home with the news that Sammy and Terry's parents are dead. We see the cop's anguish when confronted with the children's babysitter, but we never hear him tell the horrible news. Doesn't matter. We all know what's happened, and any cheesy line Lonergan could have come up with would not have been as powerful as the look on the cop's face. The same could be said for the movie's last line. Actually, it's the last line that's never said. You know it. I know it. It's the title of the movie, for godsakes! But Lonergan, a director/writer in full control of his craft, knows that saying it aloud would be maudlin. Having everyone in the audience fill in the blank creates a strong moment. It's a classy way to end a really effective little movie.
Rating:
Summary: outstanding drama
Review: ****1/2 'You Can Count on Me' is a film made, miraculously, without a single false step. In fact, more than any American movie of recent times, this film captures the feel and essence of life as we really live it. Heartfelt kudos go out to writer/director Kenneth Lonergan for fashioning an intimate family drama that is totally devoid of both cheap sensationalism and phony melodramatics ' a drama in which no character is a hero or a villain but simply an ordinary human being struggling to come to grips with this messy thing we call life. Set in a bucolic small town in rural New England, the film stars the luminous Laura Linney as Sammy Prescott, a single mother trying to instill in her eight-year old son a sense of decency and values. Having lost their parents in a car crash at a very early age, Sammy and her siblings have obviously had to overcome any number of psychological and emotional obstacles on their way to adulthood ' and no one seems to have been as adversely affected by the tragedy as Sammy's younger brother, Terry, who, as an adult, has found himself drifting aimlessly from one location, job and relationship to another, completely lacking, as Sammy puts it, the 'anchor' that holds most of our lives in place. Sammy has found that anchor in the form of her son, her home, her church and her bank job, but when Terry suddenly returns for a visit and the bank hires a new, less-than-understanding manager (with whom she ends up having an affair), even Sammy discovers that the threads holding her own life together may be more tenuous and tangled than she originally imagined (she even discovers that her religion has begun to soft pedal sin at a time when she feels what she really needs is some good old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone exhortation). The beauty of Lonergan's screenplay is that, while it throws any number of curve balls our way and never lets us know for sure where the story is headed, at the same time, it achieves that most remarkable feat of never forcing us to question its credibility. Every action and reaction on the part of the characters is completely in-line with life as we know it. In fact, each character in the film is a true-to-life, recognizable human figure, neither villainous nor saintly. Sammy is an obviously well-intentioned young woman, a hardworking churchgoer who is just trying to raise her son to be the best person possible given the often trying circumstances brought on by single motherhood. Sammy is also deeply devoted to her wayward brother, struggling to find a way to offer him the love and encouragement she feels he needs without jeopardizing the physical and psychological well-being of herself and her son, Rudy. Yet, despite the innate goodness at the core of her being, Sammy, like all us mere mortals, stumbles morally from time to time ' most noticeably, in the unexpected affair she finds herself having with her new married boss (Matthew Broderick). Suddenly, Sammy now has to cope with the paradoxical dilemma of trying to provide moral guidance for both her brother and her son, while she, herself, is violating the very foundation of her own code of ethics. Even more intriguing, perhaps, is the contradictory nature of Terry (played by Mark Ruffalo, who, I swear, sounds as if he had been dubbed by none other than John Travolta). Here is a character who could so easily have slid over into the role of easy villain. Instead, Lonergan has chosen to see him in three-dimensional terms, showing how many of his actions that wound and hurt those around him are the result far more of immaturity and a stunted emotional development than of outright greed, viciousness or malice. Like a child, Terry seems unable to confront the root causes of his bitterness and anger, so he often takes out his frustration on people like Sammy and Rudy without thinking about the consequences until after he has performed the action. Yet, there are any number of moments when Terry reaches out in a genuine way for love, forgiveness and understanding. Because of the subtle duality of his nature, Terry is one of the most impressively realized characters I've seen in any film in a long, long time. Even the minor characters are expertly drawn. As the philandering boss, Matthew Broderick makes us believe that much of his petty tyranny is really an attempt to hide the insecurity and unhappiness that is at the core of his personal life and being. Even the almost comically tawdry affair that ensues between him and Sammy speaks volumes about the emptiness and confusion both of them feel deep inside. Sammy's sometime boyfriend, Bob, seems almost too good to be true at times, but even he is struggling with his own demons of indecisiveness and insecurity. The ultimate message of 'You Can Count on Me' seems to be that, no matter how messed up our lives become, all we really have in the end is each other and that it is the duty of those of us who are coping the best to help bring along those near and dear to us who seem to be struggling the most. In this instance, Kenneth Lonergan, by resisting the temptation to judge his characters or preach to his audience, has managed to create a film of great wisdom, perceptiveness and compassion. It is truly a rare gem to be treasured.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most touching and memorable movies of the year
Review: You have to see the movie at night... perhaps by yourself or with someone close to you. Just shut yourself from the world for 2 hours and focus on this movie. It will open your mind and heart to another town, another family, another person, another child. one of the most finely craft movies I have seen this year on DVD. I am sorry I missed it in the theatres because this is one of those films you want to spend money on because you want to see such great action and directing rewarded. Laura Linney is mesmerizing as the sister who never quite figures out what she wants from life. Her solution is to make herself needed in other people's lives, fulfilling their fantasies and needs but never giving in completely. So they will always want her. The brother is another character we can all identify with. Both the sister and brother are flawed human beings. That is why we could identify with them so well. The loss of their parents also meant the loss of their childhood. They never had the opportunity to be children and so the transfer to adulthood is filled with problems and inability to cope with playing the role of an adult. Imagine yourself sipping a fine wine and you'll get a taste of how this movie feels. Each scene is precious and contains such rich texture. When you are done, you will feel the movie still running through your heart and soul. So enjoy!
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