"You Can Count On Me" (Kenneth Lonergan, 2000)
Samantha Prescott does everything right. She's a responsible single mom, with a well-regimented life, a steady job as a loan officer at a bank in upstate New York.* Life is good.
Her younger brother, Terry, though, wanders around, has no job but does have a girl "in trouble," and needs money. So it's time for a visit to Sammy to get away from the disaster of his life, spend some time with family. Maybe borrow some money.
Sammy is the responsible one. Terry is responsible, too, but it's usually for trouble. How can two disparate people come from the same family? Easy! And Terry's visit becomes a disruptive influence in the calm of Sammy's life. Doesn't it?
That's the central issue in this warm, bitter little dramedy that has at its core two extraordinarily strong performances from the astonishing Laura Linney and the chameleon-like Mark Rufalo. Linney doesn't change her look much from movie to movie; for her, it's all in the eyes, and in this one, she's got her "high-beams" on, scoping the world for danger, but rarely seeing it. Imagining it, yes, but never seeing it. Rufalo is all shaggy schlumpf in attitude and posture--a human question mark. He answers a few questions in the mind of Sammy's son Rudy (the latest spookily-good Culkin, Rory)--things Mom would never reveal to keep things tidy. Meanwhile she has a prickly problem with her new boss (Mathew Broderick, in full smarm mode--what he does best).
It's a seemingly simple film about the complications of family, which as everyone and his brother knows, implies a lot of blood under the bridge, because it's always thicker than water.
* Alright, I see you smirking! At the time this was written, it wasn't nearly so ironic.
You Can Count on Me, (Lonergan, 2000) - to screw up, to get on your case but also to be there for you.A tale of personal accountability and how life isn't always fair but that there are some things you can rely on. Like the younger brother who always screws up, and the older sister who is always on his case, but also that people can and do sometimes act out of character or even change, and that some bonds are too strong to be broken.It is a curious morality tale in which even Ron (played by the director, Kenneth Lonergan), the local priest admits that it doesn't matter too much about what you call your beliefs as long as you just have something to believe in:Sammy: I don't know what the church's official position is on fornication and adultery these days, and I felt really hypocritical not saying anything to you about it before, but what is the official position these days?
Ron: Well... it's a sin.
Sammy: Good, I think it should be!
Ron: But we try not to focus on that aspect right off the bat.
Sammy: Why not? I think you should.
Ron: Well...
Sammy: Maybe it was better when they screamed at you from the box for having sex with your married boss, they told you what a terrible thing it was, they were really mean to you. Maybe it would be better if you just told me that I'm endangering my immortal soul and that if I don't stop, I'm gonna burn in hell. Don't you ever think that?
Ron: No, not really.
Laura Linney (as Sammy) and Mark Ruffalo (as her brother, Terry) carry the movie. Matthew Broderick (as Sammy's boss, Brian) does enough to show you why no one would want to work for him if not exactly why Sammy would want to meet him in a motel but maybe that's why Terry is right about how boring life is in Stockville. Definitely one to put on your list: you can count on it.
Samantha Prescott does everything right. She's a responsible single mom, with a well-regimented life, a steady job as a loan officer at a bank in upstate New York.* Life is good.
