Mark Ruffalo and Rory Culkin in "You Can Count on Me."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, we give this film a: Stars: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Broderick Director: Kenneth Lonergan Rated: Rated R, with profanity, violence, partial nudity and adult themes Length: 111 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Marshall Fine
Gannett News Service

(December 22, 2000) -- You Can Count on Me is the kind of family film Hollywood never makes. That is, a story about a family in which problems are not easily overcome but that doesn't lead to outbursts of melodrama or neatly wrapped-up endings.

You Can Count On Me turns out to be, along with Billy Elliot, one of this season's true gems.

Written and directed by playwright Kenneth Lonergan (Analyze This), You Can Count on Me is a sad, funny and true portrait of siblings whose connection is enduring, even though they can't be part of each other's lives for extended periods.

At the center of the film is Samantha "Sammy" Prescott (Laura Linney), a single mother who works as the loan officer of a bank in the small upstate New York town where she was born and raised. She and her brother Terry were orphaned as children and she still lives in the house where they grew up, with her young son Rudy.

Her life is transformed, however, by three men, all of whom appear on almost the same day. She gets a new boss at the bank: the persnickety Brian (Matthew Broderick). On a whim, she calls up an old boyfriend, Bob (Jon Tenney), and casually rekindles that flame only to have him turn around and propose marriage.

The most impact, however, is made by her brother, the long-unseen Terry (Mark Ruffalo), whose letter announces he will be arriving shortly for a visit. That visit turns into a longer stay, as the siblings reconnect for what appears to be the first time in years.

Terry, it turns out, has an unspecified reputation as a troublemaker. He admits to Sammy that the reason she had not heard from him for several months was that he had been in jail. He's only come to borrow money.

Sammy may be one of the most intriguing female characters of this or any other year: a woman who has created a life for herself and must struggle to hold it together. The presence of the free-spirited Terry, however, threatens the whole fragile construct because it rekindles a certain rebellious quality she has long kept hidden, even from herself.

Linney is tough and vulnerable, smart and unpredictable, capable of surprising the viewer with her spunk and her wit, as she vacillates between wanting to parent Terry and to play with him. This is the kind of role that, with the right Oscar campaign, could place Linney in the final five next March.

Ruffalo, a relative newcomer, is appealing. And Broderick, as the nit-picker with whom Sammy falls into an affair, makes him a stiff-backed foil, hidebound and yet, in his own way, needy as well.

Winner of the top prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, You Can Count on Me is packed with surprising moments and unexpected pleasures. This is a film that will be at the finish line for critics' awards and Oscars at the end of the year.