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You Can Count on Me
Metascore
85 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    It's rare to get a good movie about the touchy adult relationship of a sister and brother. Rarer still for the director to be more fascinated by the process than the outcome. This is one of the best movies of the year.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    100
    Satisfying in every respect, it's a piece of blue-collar chamber music, never treating the characters cheaply, allowing them a complex entwinement of emotions.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Carla Meyer
    100
    It's simply a quiet and heartbreaking look at the dynamics of one family. That's the beauty of it.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    Beautiful, compassionate, articulate domestic drama.
  5. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    100
    There may be bigger, costlier, weighter films this year. There's none lovelier.
    All this critic's reviews
  6. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    100
    Few films have explored the complicated bonds of love and resentment between brother and sister with such delightful honesty.
    All this critic's reviews
  7. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    100
    The best American movie of the year. Has a subtext so powerful that it reaches out and pulls you under. Even when the surface is tranquil, you know in your guts what's at stake.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    100
    A humanistic gem of a movie, with unforgettable performances from Linney and Ruffalo.
  9. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    91
    It's a movie about having a sibling and all of the pain, joy, love and anxiety that that entails: a movie, in other words, for almost everyone.
  10. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    91
    A drama that embraces the ambiguities and contradictions of family ties and human nature in all its irrational glory.
  11. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    90
    In this modest but brilliant little movie, we find ourselves immersed in life itself.
  12. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    90
    It's a rare thrill -- in this cinematically hollow year.
  13. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Peter Brunette
    90
    One of the best pictures I've seen all year. Funny, touching, even inspiring at times.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    90
    Melancholy little gem of a movie.
  15. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    90
    Maybe these lives are, objectively speaking, inconsequential. But they have a resonance that big, sappy "relationship" pictures ought to envy.
  16. Variety
    Reviewed by: Emanuel Levy
    90
    A sensitive, intimate, enormously touching drama.
  17. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    88
    Honest, poignant and very funny, full of memorable, moving moments.
    All this critic's reviews
  18. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    One of the most rewarding and engaging movies of the year. Don't miss it.
  19. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    88
    A small but moving film that gets the details right (life in a sleepy burg, sidewalk chats between old high school pals) and gets at the heart of human longing for family, for love.
  20. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Staff [Not Credited]
    88
    The best drama you've seen about Anytown, USA, since "American Beauty."
    All this critic's reviews
  21. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    85
    It's the sum of things not spoken, things too painful to express, that's the heart of this quietly moving drama.
  22. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
    80
    (Linney and Ruffalo) are just beautiful enough, in fact, to be in the movies and still remain convincing as authentic folk, and their performances are tremendously moving.
  23. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    With warm humor and perceptive writing, director Kenneth Lonergan displays a gift for creating realistic characters and a compelling story.
  24. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    78
    Writer/director Lonergan succeeds at capturing eloquently the disappointments of growing up and growing old. But he isn't always successful at reining in the schmaltz.
  25. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Wittily written and deliciously acted, Lonergan's debut film is a clear cut above the average.
  26. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    It's a compassionate story about what makes people tick and what really matters.
  27. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    70
    Beautifully acted, minutely observed story.
  28. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    A subtle and often surprising study of the relationship between damaged adult siblings, full of mordant humor and dramatic invention.
  29. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Amy Taubin
    60
    Seems like a TV movie. A well-written, sympathetically acted TV movie, to be sure, but so timid and clumsy in its deployment of picture, sound, and editing that you have to wonder if executive producer Martin Scorsese bothered to give notes.
  30. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    60
    Lonergan's validation of big-minded small-town life has been neatened up to the point of blandness.
  31. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    50
    Visually flat and uninteresting and too often feels like a (leisurely paced) filmed play.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 37 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 25
  3. Negative: 3 out of 25
  1. BKM
    8
    A smart, complex and honest look at the ties that bind siblings together for better or worse. Linney and Ruffalo are terrific as a brother and sister working out their issues and the film is constantly challenging our preconceptions about who these people are and what drives their behaviors.… Full Review »
  2. Chrrowley
    10
    A wonderful tender film that beautifully explores the complex relationship between a brother, sister, and child. Has a small town authenticity rarely seen in films, and has left me waiting patiently for over a decade to see Mr. Lonergan's follow up. A streak which will be broken next week when the infamous and anticipated "Margaret" reaches the big screen.… Full Review »
  3. Sindri
    9
    Reverent performances - American playwright, screenwriter and director Kenneth Lonergan's feature film debut tells the story of sibling couple Terry and Sammy who lost their parents in a car accident when they were children. Twenty years later, Sammy still lives in their childhood home in Scottsville, New York and is a single mum working at the local bank. She has not heard from Terry in months, but when he suddenly shows up in town telling her that he has no money and no place to go, she invites him to stay with her and introduced him to her son Rudy. This gratifying and compassionate family drama about an estranged brother and sister who are reunited at their home town two decades after a life altering incident, is hands down one of the most wonderful American independent films i've ever seen. "You Can Count on Me", which was shoot in Margaretville, New York, executive produced by Martin Scorsese and honored with numerous film awards during the turn of the millennium, deals with existentialistic themes in a more humane than theoretical way and is a dialog-driven character study strengthened by it's authentic and milieu depictions. The film is wittingly written and acutely directed by Kenneth Lonergan who gives an uncommonly realistic portrayal of a devoting and deeply affectionate relationship between a brother and sister who has chosen opposite paths in life. Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney interprets Terry and Sammy with striking conviction and their reverent performances, which i would place on any list over the best performances given in the last decade, is alone reason enough to see this humorous and thoughtful film which also contains great scenes between Mark Ruffalo and Rory Culkin and between Laura Linney and Matthew Broderick. The varied and mood-setting music works well, and this is the kind of film that reaches our hearts and conveys something pivotal about basic life values.… Full Review »
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