| You Can Count on Me |
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| Rating: Good Distributor: The Shooting Gallery Genre: Drama MPAA Rating: R Release Date: November 10th, 2000 (limited), opened wider every week after and into late December Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes Director: Kenneth Lonergan Cast: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Rory Culkin, and Mathew Broderick. |
| Plot: Sammy (Laura Linney) is a relatively successful bank worker who is raising a boy (Rory Culkin) on her own. Her parents died when she was a child in a car accident leaving her and her brother Terry (Mark Ruffalo) to take care of themselves. Apparently, they lead very wild lifestyles, but in the end the Sammy got her life organized and Terry didn't. When Terry returns home to see Sammy because he is broke and needs money everything in her world turns upside down, not neccesarily because of him. Sammy has an affair with her married boss (Mathew Broderick) while Terry learns to deal with Sammy's son. In the end the two are left to assess their lives and discover what they can change. |
| Critique: You Can Count on Me is a solid, entertaining motion picture with some major flaws. First off, it suffers the opposite problem another 2000 Shooting Gallery production, Such a Long Journey suffered. Such a Long Journey had so many things going on the director couldn't handle it, but it still was entertaining enough to recommend. On the other hand, You Can Count on Me didn't have enough things going on and director/screenwriter Kennth Lonergan didn't know how to ripen it up. Thus the story needed more meat. Also, plot points were not fully explored, and the ending was a little weak. It created more questions than it knew how to answer. Also it was very painful to watch Linney's character continue to screw up her job, but even in the end not understand she has to be more responsible. Lastly, a smaller problem, but nonetheless bothersome is why Lonergan only used a few shots of the great scenery that seemed to only surround a graveyard that Linney and Ruffalo visit. A lot of critics are hailing You Can Count on Me as a masterpiece. Although I value everyone's opinion, I question how what they thought was so original and moving about the storyline. I will say though that the chemistry between the actors was very good, and some sequences were very well done. Even though a few very strong points couldn't add up as intended it prooved fascinating enough. I especially liked the funny scenes that included Mathew Broderick. His profoundly dumb, but well intentioned character who played Linney's boss was very effective. Also, his role and his acting gave some much needed flesh to a very tiny tale. All in all, You Can Count on Me is worthwhile, and basically unpretentious, but I have some reservations with it. supernothingman |
| picture above from www.youcancountonmemovie.com |
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