‘You Can Count on Me’ isn’t lying; it delivers

“You Can Count On Me” is a small, independent movie that is slowly working its way all across the country. Hopefully, it will find its way to Mount Pleasant very soon. If not, be sure to remember it when you’re looking for something to rent in a few months.
The film is something extremely rare: it’s realistic. It does not falter to silly plot points or implausible story twists. It is a straightforward character study that is full of heart, and full of everything that most mainstream Hollywood movies lack.
The film begins as a young brother and sister are orphaned after their parents are killed in a car accident. It then flashes forward 20 years, as the two siblings have each lead very different lives.
Laura Linney, in her Oscar nominated role, plays Samantha, a single mother raising her son in her small hometown. She is a manager at the local bank, and has built something resembling a normal life. On the contrary, her brother, Terry (Mark Ruffalo), is a drifter who always seems to end up in trouble. After an absence for over two years, various circumstances bring Terry back home to live with Samantha.
Through the events of the film we learn that neither sibling is what they appear to be. Samantha projects herself to be a dedicated mother and Christian. However, she soon begins an affair with her married boss, played by Matthew Broderick. The same goes for Terry. Although he is extremely foolish and unfocused most of the time, he still has a good heart and wants very much to get his scattered life together. He just doesn’t know how.
“You Can Count On Me” is a film driven not by its plot, but by its characters.
The reality that the film captivates so well is due in large part to this. There
is no big manufactured plot going on. Instead, it is a character study of a brother
and sister relationship. Not to say the film is not entertaining, it has a lot
of funny moments, but there is no contrived script at work. It is a film that
almost could have been a documentary. That is how real the acting, writing, and
directing come across.
Kenneth Lonergan has written and directed a film that will touch anyone who has
a brother or sister. It is a relationship that is rarely explored on a serious
level in film. Like other siblings, Samantha and Terry have absolutely in common,
except that they’re related.
Laura Linney (“The Truman Show”) is definitely deserving of her Oscar nomination, in a touching performance that seems totally genuine. As Terry, Mark Ruffalo is equally good playing a character that is very unlikable. Both actors pull off remarkable performances of people who live #147;ordinary” lives.
The sincerity of “You Can Count On Me” is the antithesis of superficial films like last fall’s “Pay It Forward”. Instead of relying on melodramatic moments and sensational plot twists like that movie did, “You Can Count On Me” remains grounded in reality. It does not end all neat and tidy. The film does not insult the audience by resolving two hours worth of conflict in the last few minutes of the film. Instead, Kenneth Lonergan has given the audience a film that is respects them. A film that, just like life itself, you can learn something from.