You Can Count on Me is a 2000 American drama film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan in his feature directorial debut. Starring Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Rory Culkin, and Matthew Broderick, the film follows a single mother living in a small Catskill Mountains town, and her complicated relationships with family and friends.
You Can Count on Me premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2000, where it tied with Girlfight for the Grand Jury Prize, and Lonergan won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. It was theatrically released on December 22, 2000 to widespread acclaim, with particular praise for Linney's performance. At the 73rd Academy Awards, Linney was nominated for Best Actress and Lonergan was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
Plot[]
As children, Sammy and Terry Prescott lost their parents to a car accident. Years later, Sammy, a single mother and lending officer at a bank, still lives in her childhood home in a village in the Catskill Mountains region of New York, while Terry has drifted around the country, scraping by and getting in and out of trouble.
After months of no communication with his sister, Terry and his girlfriend, Sheila, are desperate for money, so he comes to visit Sammy and her son, Rudy, who are excited about reuniting with him. Despite the disappointment of learning that he cut off contact because he was in jail for three months, Sammy lends him the money, which he mails back to Sheila. After Sheila attempts suicide, he decides to extend his stay with Sammy, which she welcomes.
For a school writing assignment, Rudy imagines his father, who he has no memory of, as a fantastic hero. While Sammy has always given him vague yet negative descriptions of Rudy Sr., Terry is frank with him that Rudy Sr. is not a nice person – though Rudy naively believes his father has changed. Sammy rekindles a sexual relationship with Bob, an old boyfriend, but is surprised when he proposes to her after a short time and says she needs time to consider it.
At the bank, the new manager, Brian, tries to make his mark with unusual demands about computer color schemes and daily timesheets. While co-worker Mabel works well with the changes, Sammy is upset when Brian requests that she make arrangements for someone else to pick up Rudy from the school bus rather than Sammy leaving work at random. After some minor arguments, they start having sex, despite Brian's wife being six months pregnant.
Terry grows close to Rudy during their time together. Yet he pushes the limits of Sammy's parental control, keeping Rudy out very late as the two play pool at a bar. She turns to Ron, her church minister, to counsel Terry about his outlook on life. While Terry resists his sister's advice, he and Rudy grow steadily closer. Realizing her own questionable decisions, Sammy turns down Bob's marriage proposal and breaks off her relationship with Brian.
After a day of fishing, Terry and Rudy decide to visit Rudy Sr. in a trailer park in a nearby town. Confronted by his past, Rudy Sr. denies he is Rudy's father and starts a brawl with Terry. Rudy watches silently as Terry beats Rudy Sr. and gets arrested.
Sammy brings her brother and son home. When Rudy insists that Rudy Sr. is not his father, Sammy finally tells him the truth. Sammy asks Terry to move out, but admits how important he is to her and Rudy, suggesting he get his own place in town and get his life back on track. He scoffs at Sammy's idea and plans to go back to Alaska. While at first it appears the separation will be another heartache, they reconcile before Terry leaves, coming to terms with their respective paths in life.
Cast[]
- Laura Linney as Sammy
- Mark Ruffalo as Terry
- Matthew Broderick as Brian
- Jon Tenney as Bob
- Rory Culkin as Rudy
- J. Smith-Cameron as Mabel
- Josh Lucas as Rudy Sr.
- Gaby Hoffmann as Sheila
- Adam LeFevre as Sheriff Darryl
- Amy Ryan as Mrs. Prescott
- Michael Countryman as Mr. Prescott
- Kenneth Lonergan as Ron
While listed in the main opening credits, Amy Ryan and Michael Countryman, playing Sammy and Terry's parents, appear for only a few seconds in the cold opening of the film, caught in the headlights of the truck that kills them.