You Can Count On Me

Rating:
Summary: Its Realism Makes It A Great Viewing Experience
Review: I know people like the brother and sister in this movie. Everyone knows someone like them. That is because this movie accentuates true to life characters and their reunion in the small town where they grew up. Every aspect of the story rings true. The brother is someone who has always [messed]up and never really grown up. However, he's not really a bad guy. The sister is his opposite in many ways but she royally [messes]up too by having an affair with her boss. She has a son and the scenes between her brother and her son are among the best in the movie. For one, her brother decides the boy should meet his real father, who turns out to be the kind of person who defines "trailer trash." The director plays the town's minister and I loved his advice sessions with the brother and sister. My, religion has really come a long way! This is a slice of life type of film and there are no tidy bundles it wraps everything into for you. That's a great deal of its charm, however.

Rating:
Summary: A flawless example of what filmmaking can be
Review: It's rare these days to see a movie that doesn't tempt you to spend the way home from the theatre (or the hour after you see the video) thinking about how much better it could have been if the directing or editing or acting or script had just been a bit better. See this film, and I challenge you to find a moment where any of those elements were less than suberb. This is the most precious and uncommon of films--an intelligent and quietly profound script performed by a cast that brings even more to the roles than the script called for, and a study-worthy example of great cinematography, lighting design, and flawless timing by the director and editors.

There are no special effects, no graphic violence or sex (though the subject matter is not at all suitable for children, and there are erotic scenes and situations), and the soundtrack won't sell many albums (it's a great soundtrack, but features no album-selling big name artists or pop tunes). So if you want the same-old-same-old Hollywood overstimulation, forget this film.

If you want to see a truly believable yet mythical dramatic story, you'll find this to be one of the best films of recent years by any standard. I still haven't found anything I'd change about it--it's that good! The DVD has a very nice set of interviews with the cast and director as well.

Rating:
Summary: Superb acting & direction make this a must see!
Review: Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote and directed You Can Count on Me, delivers an articulate, wonderful, compassionate domestic drama -- one of the best films of the year.

The superb cast includes the always fantastic Laura Linney, who deserved every accolade she received for this performance, and Mark Ruffalo, who was unjustly ignored by the same circles. They play Sammy & Terry, a brother and sister who, orphaned as children, have grown up taking completely different paths. Sammy has remained in their hometown in the house they grew up in, living a life of routine and being a straight & narrow single parent to her 8 year old son (wonderfully played by Rory Culkin). Terry has become a slacker, allowing himself to commit only to the joys of pot and trouble. When Terry comes back to ask his sister for money... their 2 worlds inevitably, and humorously, disagree.

The fantastic supporting cast includes Matthew Broderick as Sammy's tightly-wound boss, Jon Tenney as her sweet but somewhat boring boyfriend, and Director Kenneth Lonergan himself as the town clergyman.

Sit back and watch this extremely entertaining movie... I think you'll agree that you will experience laughter, anger, and maybe even a tear or two.

The DVD includes a 10 minute interview with the cast & crew, director commentary, and the original theatrical trailer.

Rating:
Summary: I could watch this one over and over, poignat, touching!
Review: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick and Rory Culkin make make this film shine. While focusing primarily on the relationship between a sister (Linney) and brother (Ruffalo) who have a difficult time understanding one another, the film delves into even deepr subplots about the mysteries of the human heart and how little control we have over our impulses and desires. Linney plays Sammy, a single mother struggling to raise her son whil dealing with a frustrating job at her bank, a job made difficult mainly because of her new manager, played by Matthew Broderick. To add to the mix, her brother suddenly shows up and lives with her for awhile. Mark Ruffalo was stunning as the brother and I look forward to seeing him in more movies. I really related to Sammy, perhaps because of Laura Linney's skill in making her come alive. She is a woman who can't resist those in need, which explains why she is drawn to her bank manager while also juggling a relationship with a long-term boyfriend. Both need her, but for different reasons and if someone needs her, she finds it hard to say no. I found the relationship between Broderick and Linney to be as fascinating as anything in the movie, although every scene in the movie was a gem. If you have a choice, get the DVD of this one, if only for the revealing comments by the director.

Rating:
Summary: a sad but grate drama
Review: I thought some of it was just ok but then there was another some of it that I thought was grate. I say take it or leave it.

Rating:
Summary: Great performances - intimate to a flaw
Review: This is a story of a brother and a sister and how screwed up people's lives can get, but just a little too realistic for my taste. You really wanted something nice to happen to these characters, but the only thing I got from this movie was depressed. Technically the movie is as good as they get, the acting is superb and you really have to applaud the studio for releasing a little movie like this. As a study of acting and storytelling, this is a gem. But as entertainment - it leaves a little to be desired.

Rating:
Summary: What is All the Fuss About?
Review: Starting with the Sundance Film Festival, "You can Count on Me" has been getting rave notices. But for the life of me I cannot see why. To be honest it is a simple story well told. Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo are good as the brother and sister protaganists and a few of the scenes produced a mild chuckle and a smile....nothing unusual or special. Is it that most people have a "good-for-nothing" brother or sister and can relate? I did like the Laura Linney and Matthew Broderick relationship and the relationship between Ruffalo and Linney's son. All have done better work. Check out Broderick in "Election" and Linney in "The House of Mirth" or "The Truman Show."

Rating:
Summary: One of the most nuanced films of last year.
Review: Bach's first Cello Suite in G wafts through the scenes, and it really captures the meandering nature of the two characters. What is so ingenuous about this film is that here are two characters who seemingly walk different, divergent paths of life, yet are falling headlong in the same direction. The entire film can be seen as an aftermath of a terrible tragedy and how it affects people for the rest of their lives, but under Londergan's sure direction, the message never becomes trite, watered down soundbites of Freudian pathology. The performances are unilaterally wonderful, and Ruffalo especially is powerful as a smoked-out brother who cannot, and stubbornly will not find his place in the world. The sadness between the pauses is poignant, but the hope of the last couple sequences are spine-tingling. The film, by the way, takes the top prize for using the title as a meaningful part of the story, as it is the "punchline" that is left unsaid at the end of the film, the remembered pact between the brother and sister who love each other now as they have back then. Remarkable.

Rating:
Summary: You Can Count on Me to screw up my life - and yours too.
Review: Assume for a minute that all good film begins and ends with the story. You can have good acting, good directing, good art direction, etc. etc. but if the story (the screenplay) is flawed or just plain bad, then the film by definition is flawed or just plain bad.

That is the case with this film. The lead roles are expertly played. The film making technique is more than competent. But the story, and in a few crucial areas the directing, is terribly flawed.

The story begins with the tragic death of the parents of two young children in a terrible car crash. We are then flashed ahead roughly three decades to find the two orphans as adults. We are obviously meant to develop sympathy and admiration for them, but any critical viewer will find this task difficult in the extreme.

The first adult orphan, Sammy, played by Laura Linney, seems to have her life together as she struggles to raise an eight year old son, hold a job at the local bank, and keep tabs on her wayward brother. A single mom, we see her early-on dealing with her new, anal retentive boss who refuses to allow her to use fifteen minutes of her lunch hour to pick up her son after school and take him to the sitter.

Enter the wayward brother, Terry (Mark Rufulo). We first see him asking his pregnant girl friend for bus money so he can go see his sister to hit her up for a loan so the girlfriend can abort the baby. Before leaving, he manages to tell the girl carrying his child that "Yes, I love you, but when this is all over I want you to think seriously about moving back home."

Upon arrival in his old hometown, Terry is greeted as something of a prodigal son. He quickly gets to the point, begging his sister for the money ("I swear I'll pay you back"). But before he can even dig his return bus ticket out of his backpack, he gets a phone call. His pregnant girlfriend has attempted suicide.

So what does he do next? Rush to his girlfriend's side? No, he decides to move in with his sister and the eight-year old boy. He mails the money (no note) to the girlfriend.

Oh well, now at least Sammy has someone who can pick up her son after school and take him to the sitter. Her boss will be happy, right? Well, no. Now he's bent out of shape because several of the bank employees are using inappropriate colors on their computer screens. This is a bank after all. And he manages to find numerous other ways to torpedo morale -- both Sammy's and all her colleagues.

Meanwhile Terry, the uncle-now-father-figure to the eight year old, helps his sister out with occasional baby sitting. He first takes the boy to a bar (around 10:30, after the boy's allotted TV time runs out) to play pool. Then he instructs the boy to lie to his mother about the episode. He later shames the boy for squealing to his mother, and "causing me to have to put up with her shit all day."

But that pales in comparison to the next helpful action Terry embarks on. The little boy has never met his father. Terry knows where he lives and decides to take the eight-year old to meet his no-good Dad. Prior to starting out, Terry threatens the boy that he had better never tell his mother about the meeting.

Needless to say the meeting goes badly. A vicious fight breaks out between Terry and the father. Police are called. The boy, having just watched his uncle and his father pummel each other bloody, now gazes on as his uncle is handcuffed and driven away to jail. Don't you wish you had a brother like Terry?

Meanwhile, back at the bank, the boss brings in his six-months pregnant wife to meet the employees. The introductions are icy. Sammy later talks to her boss and attempts to smooth over the cold reception. One thing leads to another, rapidly and with no hint of any motivation, they end up in bed together. Repeatedly. And during the affair, Sammy is also sleeping with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Bob.

It goes on and on. And the author/director wants you, the viewer, to feel empathy for these supposed heroes. He wants us to believe that they are struggling against circumstances and doing the best they can, given what life has handed them. But, in fact, the lead characters are pathetic, making one ridiculous choice after another with no regard to the impact their decisions will have on the people in their lives (including, most notably, the eight-year old boy.)

The final scene is reminiscent of the closing scene in "Grapes of Wrath" where truly noble family members must say good bye. But instead of feeling admiration for the struggles Sammy and Terry carry on, my only thought was "These people are living the very lives they deserve."

Don't waste your money on this one. Don't even rent it. Instead, perhaps you could read a good book to your child, or take your spouse out for ice cream. You'll find that a much more rewarding use of your time.

Rating:
Summary: A spiritual gem
Review: This film is a spiritual gem about maintaining our center and our self-esteem despite loss. It opens with a brief scene in which the parents of a young girl and boy are orphaned in a tragic car accident. The remainder of the film gives us a glimpse into the lives of the children as young adults.

Spiritually, the sister (Sammy) has struggled to maintain her bearings, and after several serious missteps --- one of which produced her young son --- she has apparently succeeded. By contrast, her brother (Terry) is lost, wandering the country and broke.

The bulk of the film covers Terry's brief time with Sammy at the family home. He quickly becomes attached to her son, a relationship marred by Terry's deep irresponsibility. Meanwhile, Sammy strikes up an affair with her boss, a young bank manager played by Matthew Broderick. The affair seems passionate enough at first, but before long we see that Broderick, whose wife is not-too-happily pregnant, is also looking for a port in the storm. What will these two wounded and vulnerable people teach the boy?

The films gives us no simple answers. Perhaps its best soliloquy comes from the local minister, who asks Terry a serious of withering questions about whether he counts his life as important. This question cuts to the core of Terry's and Sammy's loss, and its answer, and the significance of that answer in our human relationships, is the message. The closing song by Steve Earle sets the perfect tone to summarize this powerful and moving little film.