You Can Count on Me

United States

2000

111 Min

Color

1.85:1

English

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
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EXEC Steve Carlis, Donald C. Carter, Martin Scorsese, Morton Swinsky

PROD Barbara De Fina, Larry Meistrich, Jeff Sharp

CAST Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Rory Culkin, Jon Tenney, J. Smith-Cameron, Gaby Hoffmann, Amy Ryan, Michael Countryman, Adam LeFevre, Halley Feiffer, Whitney Vance, Peter Kerwin, Josh Lucas

Sundance (Dramatic Competition): Grand Jury Prize, Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, AFI FEST (New Directions): Best New Writer, New Directions Award, Toronto (Special Presentations), Venice (Critics' Week), Edinburgh (Gala), London (World Cinema)

Synopsis

A lot happens at once to Sammy, a single mom living in the Catskill town of her birth, where her parents died in a car crash when she was small. Her son Rudy, who’s 8, begins imagining his unseen father as a hero; she picks up, sort of, with last year’s boyfriend; she gets a new boss who imposes foolish rules; and, her wayward brother Terry arrives for a visit after months of no communication. The boyfriend proposes, the relationship with her boss takes an unexpected turn, and her brother and son bond, not always with positive consequences. When Terry asks young Rudy if he wants to meet his father, a crisis of sorts ensues, and brother and sister must re-frame their relationship. —IMDb

Director

Kenneth Lonergan

Kenneth Lonergan is a playwright, screenwriter and director. His film You Can Count On Me, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, won the Sundance 2000 Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the NY Film Critics Circle, LA Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America and National Board of Review awards for Best Screenplay of 2001, the AFI awards for Best Film and Best New Writer. He co-wrote the film Gangs Of New York which garnered a WGA and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. As a playwright he has been represented in New York by Lobby Hero, (Playwrights Horizons, John Houseman Theatre, Drama Desk Best Play nominee, Outer Critics Circle Best Play and John Gassner Playwrighting nominee, included in the 2000-2001 Best Plays annual), The Waverly Gallery (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Promenade; 2001 Pulitzer Prize runner-up), and This is our Youth (Drama Desk Best Play nominee). Lobby Hero (Olivier Award… read more

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Malin

23Jan13

A surprisingly insightful mom drama.

Sean

23Nov12

This is a fantastic film, the dialog and the acting just flows. Ruffalo is a stand out in this giving a raw performance, he plays Terry so well and I think the relationship between him and Linney's character was so well done. I too thought Ruffalo and Culkin interacted well together, it was good to see an adult talking to a kid without being condescending. Lonergan's directing impressed me as well.

Dara Drea O'Neill

10Aug12

Understated brilliance.

dschank

13Apr12

a solid, character study overlooked due to the subconscious chauvinism felt toward anything marketed as a "chick flick." feels part of the same universe as "the squid and the whale," with which it shares actors. like "squid," it comes on too strong at times - offering hyperbole where nuance will do just fine. and while some characters are equally reprehensible, there's an optimism that rings false. still, it's good.

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