Popular reviews

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  Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 2

  lonergan's always been especially good at finding emotional truth/clarity in the smallest of moments but there's a brief moment here where ruffalo's character terry, finally returning home after years of estrangement from his hometown, observes the local cemetery (where his parents are buried) just before the local town sign on his bus ride in that so simplistically yet vividly captures the fear of dying in a small town (also see: insignificance, laced with pity & regret) that i had to pause right there and take a break... i know the feeling too well because i've literally lived out this scene--my bus drives right by my grandparents grave anytime im forced to return to my hometown

  movies am i right

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  Review by Brendan Michaels ★★★★½

  This film looks and sounds like a stereotypical, sappy film that will try and pull your heartstrings. But only one man can make this film a heartfelt, genuine piece of cinema. That man is Kenneth Lonergan. Kenny is a filmmaker that tells the truth. He knows this life, he knows these people, he knows how to be genuine with his films. He makes films to tell the stories of people with baggage. Real people. People you would meet in real life. Ordinary people.

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  Review by Brett Wright ★★★★★ 13

  ***This might contain spoilers***

  Taking a little break from horror films… I realized on this viewing how similar the scene with Laura Linney asking her minister if she has sinned (by sleeping with her married boss) is to the police station scene in ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ when Casey Affleck gets off without any charges for the death of his children. Obviously, the circumstances in each film are completely different, with Linney’s scene played for comedy and Affleck’s for extreme drama, but this appears to be a particularly important type of scene for Lonergan. The guilt felt by both of these characters is shown to be excruciating to the point where they wish some form of authority would step in…

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  Review by kevinyang ★★★★ 2

  Astounding lead performances and a huge wallop of an ending. This is Mark Ruffalo's best performance and I don't know if he'll ever top it.

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  Review by KYK ★★★★ 1

  you can count on kenneth lonergan to never be too heavy-handed with emotionally weighty material. even at the end i was like "ok here we go, someone is about to say 'you can count on me'" and no one does lol. i'm so moved by everyone's performances (linney/ruffalo/culkin specifically, and culkin more than i expected), but i especially cannot stop thinking about the scene where mark ruffalo's face suddenly crumples into a sob. mine did too.

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  Review by Sam Meltzer ★★★½ 4

  Kenny Lonergan has a distinct style when it comes to storytelling - utilizing efficiency and intimacy - that primarily revolves around the characterization of a family. With You Can Count on Me, he tells the story of a single mother who’s broken and beaten brother makes a sudden visit. The multitude of intensely human relationships and interactions are showcased through three different perspectives - the mother, the brother and the child - within this small, lonely town to exemplify both the chaos and loneliness of the given situation. Above all, the reason why this works better than it should is because of Laura Linney. Her performance, the work she brings to the character, and her raw ferocity truly elevate the…

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  Review by laura ★★★★ 2

  why watch manchester by the sea with casey affleck when you could watch this kenneth lonergan drama about a man who is traumatized by his hometown starring peak mark ruffalo? 😌

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★ 1

  80/100

  Third viewing, last seen just prior to its U.S. theatrical release. Terry Prescott remains disturbingly familiar, right down to his bargain-bin t-shirts with their tiny holes and badly frayed collars. (I've at least reached the point where I replace the shirts when they get too ratty.) Had not remembered that J. Smith-Cameron played Sammy's co-worker who favors an "unprofessional" color palette on her computer, and somehow didn't even recognize the future Skandie winner who appears in the opening scene—an hour later, it was "Wait, why is there a picture of Amy Ryan on Sammy's bedside table?!" I suspect I was distracted by how "written" Doomed Mom's first line is; as noted below, I've never particularly cared for Lonergan's decision…

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  Review by Chad Hartigan ★★★★★ 3

  The "someone comes back home and disrupts everyone's lives" genre of indie film is a pox and given us many of the worst films ever. But it also gave us this.

  This movie had a seismic effect on me in 2000, my first year of film school. We thought Ruffalo was gonna be the next Brando. It inspired me to write my first terrible screenplay. I still think about it whenever I write any script.

  "Put on your seatbelt."
  "It pushes on my neck."
  "What?"
  "It pushes on my neck, it's uncomfortable."
  "Well, when someone slams into us and you go sailing through the windshield, that's liable to be uncomfortable too. Now put on your seatbelt."
  "Mom's parents died in a car accident."
  "Yeah I know, they're my parents too."
  "They are?"
  "Yeah. Your mom's my sister."
  "Yeah, I know."
  "So that means we have the same parents."
  "Oh yeah."

  Is a perfect scene about nothing.

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  Review by buckett ★★★★½ 4

  Is there any relationship as complex, as nuanced, as adult siblings? You share the same starting point, the same childhood and the same formative early events. For that reason you're also the only ones who can really chart the whole journey, who can track how we've become who we are. And yet those endpoints can still end up in such different places for seemingly inexplicable reasons.

  I think You Can Count On Me captures that complexity better than most anything I've seen. The responsible Linney and the fuckup Ruffalo - arguably both better than ever, in my opinion - show the full range of what that relationship holds: the understanding, the insecurities, the resentment, the concern, the pity, and the…

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  Review by Kunga Sagar ★★★★½ 4

  This was a total treat. Manchester by the Sea obliterated my heart and put the pieces back together slowly. This film does the opposite, the more I got to know these characters the more I saw myself and my loved ones in them, and the further tougher the final scenes were. That my friends, is the sign of good writing. 

  Mark Ruffalo is a wonderful actor. It’s just that I’ve quite enjoyed poking fun at his Spotlight performance over the years. Good film, good performance, but the “THEY KNEW AND THEY LET IT HAPPEN” scene always made me chuckle. Not a bad scene, but I can’t not think of Bill Simmons mockingly screaming the lines. Kenneth Lonergan recognized where his talents…

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  Review by eely ★★★★ 1

  there is a scene where laura linney and mark ruffalo smoke a joint on their porch in the middle of the night and this moth flies into the shot and lingers around mark for a second and then gingerly rests itself on his hand and he looks down like ‘hey lil moth’ and then the moth flies away and I would be lying to you if I said it didn’t make me irrationally emotional