This is How Movies Should Be Made

the audience applauded

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Iv'e streamed this movie a few times on Netflix, and i can see how this movie can be interesting as well as depressing. Basically if you're in the mood for a drama that doesn't go anywhere, then this film will be worth watching.You Can Count On Me is realistic, but there is barely a plot here, and in all honesty movies are supposed to be an escape from everyday life, this story line does not provide that.You Can Count On Me depicts characters that have gotten caught up with simply working, and trying to get by day to day. These main characters don't have any big dreams or goals and that's okay because some people like living in a small town and working a dead end job, but it can be a bit depressing is all i'm saying.You Can Count On Me is well-acted, the directing is okay but like i said there's barely a plot. This is one of those movies with no film score, just a piece of famous classical music here and there, i like that style, but the overall movie isn't all that.

Kenneth Lonergan's debut film, above all things, attempts to reconcile with the fact that a brother and sister can grow up together but lead two completely different lives, and that there is ultimately little they can do to understand the other. The opening scene depicts their parents' death at a young age, and from there you can extrapolate how the rest of their childhood went; who sprung into action to take over as the stand-in adult, and who moped and drifted off into a winding trial of odd jobs and couches. Linney was born for this role. You could scarcely imagine her as a kid; she must have left the womb in a pencil skirt and wagging a stern finger. Her excitement for Terry's visit doubles as an extension of her pride in her own competence. It's her fault if she can't provide for him, never mind the fact that he is a full grown man. In their first reconciliation in the cafe, and in their subsequent spars which recall all the fights they had in the family home, Lonergan shows a knack for writing dialogue that ducks and weaves around the point, always concealing underhanded blows and accusations amongst the awkward pauses. Sammy's way of life is an affront to Terry's decisions, an unspoken condemnation in her every move. I've seen this film a dozen times before, we all have. Usually it's pitched at the romantic comedy level, where the rough, rogue drifter returns to town and slowly but surely wins the heart of the poor widow. Oh, there'll be tricks and misunderstandings, the classic one set up here where the drifter is set a simple task (such as picking up a kid from school) and everything that could go wrong does. You expect Linney to be given an opportunity to explode her, and god knows she's been looking for one. What we get instead is a quiet moment of bonding. Rudy Junior is nailing the planks on diagonally but Terry doesn't even scold him for it, just advises him on hammering technique. Elsewhere, you watch how their relationship evolves into one of co-dependency, Rudy finally finding the father figure he never had, and Terry spending time with someone that doesn't take one look at his second-rate clothes and scraggly beard and write him off. Watch the ease in which Lonergan slips exposition in the tentative initial moments, not as story dumping, but as one of the ways in which the pair try to figure out what they mean to one another. Sammy, on the other hand, begins to have her modest yet efficient life unravel. Linney's eyes do most of the work, widening in panic whenever out of the ordinary threatens the idyll of Scottsville, New York. She dates Bob, a man so plain and unremarkable that by the end of the film we still know nothing of his character (even his name is boring). Sammy indulges in her own little sins on the side, like a smoke every now and again, and a full blown affair with his uptight boss. Her confession of the latter to the local pastor speaks volumes of the way she perceives right and wrong; she'd rather be told that she's condemned to burning in hell than admit that every now and again people need a break, and that life can get a little messy. The reveal of Rudy Junior's red neck father is the final straw - all along we've been shifting uncomfortably at the Terry-sized intrusion into her life, but he's a saint in comparison to the man that Sammy fathered a child with and then promptly broke off. Lonergan himself plays the small town priest Ron, a decisive departure from many of the more conventional Catholic authority figures the screen has graced us with. He plays the role with not a single moment of emotional betrayal, a stony faced mask that functions as a disposal point for strangers to unload their woes and worries. In a monologue that encapsulates the film, he muses on his own personal philosophy of happiness and comfort (defined through the connectedness he finds by helping others find their happiness), and then offers a pointed question to Terry: do you think your life is important? Sammy is also sitting in attendance, and by the end of the film, both have scavenged their way to an answer, although their paths are vastly different. It's blunt, but effective. Few first time directors find that sort of impartiality, and Lonergan would smooth those rough edges (visually and didactically) more than a decade later.

Laura Linney is perhaps our finest, most under-the-radar actress of the past 20 years. She never seems to be acting; rather, she seems to inhabit the characters she plays. Such is the case here. She's just brilliant. What a lovely movie! Watching her interact with her "brother" and "son" is a lesson in acting worthy of Uta Hagen or other great acting coaches of the non-method school. Perhaps the only reason her career never reached the heights of a Meryl Streep or Ingrid Bergman is that she is a true "character actress" and has never been viewed as a true leading lady or romantic lead. But, she really can play anything, witness her Abigail Adams on television. Brava, Laura!

What happens a lot of times in movies is that the acting brings a movie together. Kind of like director Kenneth Lonergan's You can count on me. If it wasn't for the acting, the film would only be good, not as great as it is. But I have a feeling it would be great anyways.Laura Linney plays Sammy. Mark Ruffalo plays Terry, her brother. The two have had a strong bond ever since their parents passed away years earlier. Sammy, now a grown woman, is a single mother who works at a bank. Terry, now a grown man, has a drug problem and is a low life.When he walks back into her life, he stays with her. And him and her son Rudy(Rory Kulkin) form a bond. And he disappoints, and it proves that he isn't perfect. But the truth is, neither is she. Because she is having an affair with her boss(Matthew Broderick), who has a wife that is pregnant.You can count on me is easily one of the best films about family ever made. The acting from Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo is so real. The film is real. It makes you wonder... what if you never saw your brother again? What if the last time you see him, it ends on a bad note. The regret you'd feel.One of the many things that I love is that there are scenes where the two are arguing and they sound just like kids. There is a scene where Terry is angry and doesn't want to take her son fishing, and Sammy says"You suck!" It's just funny.Overall, I felt that the film was unscripted. The acting, and the film itself, is so realistic. Both Sammy and Terry are lovable characters, and you really do care about what happens to them. Overall, this film was a big surprise. It shows how talented some of these actors really are. I loved this film so much... I wanted to hug it. Truly, this film is a masterpiece.A