You Can Count on Me

Pros: Great cast and acting
Cons: A little sappy

You Can Count On Me is an interesting character study about a brother and sister whose parents died when they were very young and how their lives developed in two different directions. It stars Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, and ...

Pros: Realistic and likeable story, great direction, and the best acting i've ever seen.
Cons: Without great direction and amazing acting, the story wouldn't have worked.

The greatness of You Can Count on Me is intimately tied up with the most valid reason why you might hate it. It’s the direction (by Kenneth Lonergan), and the acting: never have I seen a movie, in scene after scene, convey so much with so lit ...

Pros: Linney and Ruffalo are moving
Cons: little happens,nothing is resolved

The critics—including those on epinions—seem to me overenthusiastic about “You can count on me.” the directorial debut of Kenneth Lonergan (who wrote some of the alternately broad and witty “Analyze This” and “Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” and has...

Pros: Linney, Ruffalo and Culkin, the hominess and accessibility of the characters and script
Cons: Mundane , and what purpose did that car crash serve?

One of the hard facts about forming friends on Epinions, in particular with those we trust, is that you sometimes run the risk of endangering that trust when a movie such as this is in question. Because it is the best movie ever to some people I regard...

Pros: Linney, Ruffalo, Broderick; impressive script, direction, and acting from Lonergan
Cons: More films aren't as bright, intelligent, and surprising as this one

"You Can Count On Me" is a film that celebrates the unpredictability of life, and the ways people find to deal with it. Laura Linney stars as Sammy Prescott, a single parent who's forced to face adversity on many fronts. The man who fathered her child...

Pros: Despite its oatmeal title, this is an extraordinary movie with blistering performances
Cons: A subplot about adultery stretches things a bit

If there’s another screenwriter who’s had a more wildly diverse year than Ken Lonergan, then I’ll eat my critic’s notebook. The two movies bearing his name—The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and You Can Count On Me in 2000 were as...

Pros: The basic idea could have been used to make a good movie.
Cons: The movie is dreadful!

You Can Count on Me has been a very popular movie. It’s a debut by Kenneth Lonergan for Paramount. I can’t tell you why folks seem to like it, because I thought it was absolutely awful. The plot line was flaky, the acting was goofy, and the...

Pros: Well developed story and characters and wonderful acting.
Cons: There is nothing I didn't like, but some may find it slow moving.

Maybe I've written enough Epinions to become predictable by now. (I loved Chocolat, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Beloved...you get it; I'm not exactly a Steven Seagal fan.) I mean, lately, my husband and I have seen a truckload of non-descript movies...

Pros: Engaging, Evocative Acting
Cons: Weak Score, Zero Action (Not Really A Negative Here),

Say what? It's a movie about...perserverance?!? That's right, Sparky, and it works. Brilliantly. You Can Count On Me is one of those Slice Of Life films that we don't usually like. It's small, on the scale of On Golden...

Pros: --
Cons: --

This film boasts one of the most complex scripts (by writer/director Kenneth Lonergan) about sibling relationships in a long while...since probably William McNamara's Radio Inside. It is so subtle that one might think that nothing is happening. ...

Pros: brilliant Acting, superb script, intelligent, authentic, touching.
Cons: few and far between

This intelligent, poignant, character study is all nuance and talk. There's not a lot of plot, there's not any action to speak of. It's a slice of life, punched up just enough by a literate script to be tender, witty, smart and ultimately very...

Pros: Heartfelt script, Ruffalo's acting, Stong performance by Linney, Well done character development
Cons: Uneven in parts and may be too slow for mainstream audiences

Writer Kenneth Lonergan (Analyze This) has crafted a well made film for his directorial debut. You Can Count on Me tied for the top honor with Girlfight at the Sundance Festival, and much of its positives are due to the...

Pros: Smart script, well directed, great cast, felt "real"
Cons: None spring to mind

I've been wanting to see this movie since I read the first review of it. Winner of the New York Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and Best Screenplay, and Best Picture and Best Screenplay at Sundance, and hailed by Roger Ebert as "one of the best...

Pros: Low-key acting, economical and effective script, smart direction
Cons: Languid pacing may turn some off

The first time I saw it, "You Can Count On Me" seemed to whisper along quietly, content to make small statements about small people, but never really hitting the emotional home run that it should have. I found the actors intriguing in their portrayals...

Pros: The excellent script; great performances from Linney and Ruffalo
Cons: None

" You Can Count on Me", written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, just might make you gasp in gratitude. Understanding and true, it is devoid of Hollywood Formula. Many ostensibly "indie" films nevertheless employ formulas of one sort or another; whether ...