| YOU CAN COUNT ON ME |
 2000
- USA
Director: Ken Lonergan - Reviewed by Linda
You Can Count On Me is a surprisingly sweet, funny, and realistic American indie flick. The film stars Laura Linney as Sammy (a character I immediately liked because of her glasses... I've decided I want frames just like hers...). She is a single mom of a precocious 8-year-old boy, Rudy, played by the latest Culkin kid, Rory. (Disclaimer: many people know how much I hate...hate Macaulay Culkin, but his kid brother Rory really isn't half bad, despite the fact that he could be in Home Alone III, and the audience would smile and clap their hands, thinking that the main character just never physically grew up, like Gary Coleman.) Sammy's scrappy brother Terry (Mark Ruffalo) drifts into town after a long absence, and shiftily asks for money, planning to dart out of town with no explanation. But his screwed up life catches up to him, and he ends up staying for a longer visit, with the encouragement of his sister. It would have been very easy to have Terry be a royal screw-up, and Sammy be the rock-solid responsible adult-sibling of the two. But You Can Count On Me is more three-dimensional than that. Terry is not exactly a role model, but he is the only father figure that the kid has had in his life lately. Terry, for the most part, means well, even when he shatters Rudy's illusions of having a mysterious super-dad when he takes the kid on a quest to meet his biological father. Sammy, in the meantime, does her best as a single mother, though her brother smirkingly points out her flaws when she reveals that she is having an affair with her married boss Kevin (Matthew Broderick). No one in the film is perfect, which is refreshing. And Terry and Sammy have a natural, often immature banter that only siblings can get away with as adults. The thing I liked most about the film, however, was the great ensemble acting, mixed with a great script. Often I laughed hardest at what wasn't said. In the hands of a less-capable cast, certain lines would have flown by unnoticed, but this group knew how to add often hilarious double meanings with just a pause or a glance. This film won a special award at Sundance for the entire cast, and I can see why. You Can Count On Me isn't earth-shaking filmmaking, but is instead a charming slice-of-life of a modern American family. |
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It's
really unfortunate that this film has such a cornball title. I mean, what were
they thinking? That a title like You Can Count On Me wouldn't be confused
for the latest run-of-the-mill Natalie Portman/Ashley Judd pairing?