17 years after their parents died in a car crash, Sammy and her brother Terry have drifted away from each other. She lives in their small hometown with her son and he is a bit of a drifter. Now he is visiting her and their personality differences lead to tension.
Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, who went on to write and direct Manchester By The Sea, You Can Count On Me is an engaging human drama, centred around the relationship between the siblings Sammy and Terry. It is reasonably interesting, especially as we see how their lives have diverged and also how we see Sammy's current life, its ebbs and flows.
However, it never gets beyond interesting. There's no great profundity or punch-line at the end and while that means it's the journey, rather than the destination, that matters, the journey isn't always compelling viewing. It really needed something more to make it special.
Laura Linney gives a superb performance as Sammy, a performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Mark Ruffalo is okay as Terry. Matthew Broderick is maybe a bit miscast as the bank manager: he just didn't seem convincing, possibly overdoing the inflexibility and dourness. 10-year-old Rory Culkin (brother of Macaulay Culkin) puts in a good performance as Rudy, Sammy's son.
Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, who went on to write and direct Manchester By The Sea, You Can Count On Me is an engaging human drama, centred around the relationship between the siblings Sammy and Terry. It is reasonably interesting, especially as we see how their lives have diverged and also how we see Sammy's current life, its ebbs and flows.
However, it never gets beyond interesting. There's no great profundity or punch-line at the end and while that means it's the journey, rather than the destination, that matters, the journey isn't always compelling viewing. It really needed something more to make it special.
Laura Linney gives a superb performance as Sammy, a performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Mark Ruffalo is okay as Terry. Matthew Broderick is maybe a bit miscast as the bank manager: he just didn't seem convincing, possibly overdoing the inflexibility and dourness. 10-year-old Rory Culkin (brother of Macaulay Culkin) puts in a good performance as Rudy, Sammy's son.