# You Can Count on Me

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, whose life is disrupted when her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns.
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 in the United States by Paramount Classics on December 22, 2000, to critical acclaim. At the 73rd Academy Awards, Linney was nominated for Best Actress and Lonergan was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

## Plot

Sammy and Terry Prescott lose their parents to a car crash. Years later, Sammy, a single mother and loan officer at a bank, still lives in her childhood home in a village in the Catskill Mountains 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 so 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 fling 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

## Production

The story takes place in the Catskill region of south east New York state, in the fictionalized communities of Scottsville and Auburn. While there is an actual Scottsville and Auburn, New York, they are over 200 miles (320 km) away, in the north west Great Lakes and Finger Lakes regions of the state, respectively. The film was primarily shot in and around Margaretville, New York, a village on the border of Catskill Park, in June 1999.
While the bank exteriors were filmed at Margaretville's NBT bank, the interiors were filmed in an unrelated bank closer to New York City, since NBT considered interior filming a security risk.
The scenes where Rudy Jr. walks home in the rain were filmed with the assistance of the Margaretville Fire Department, which used their trucks and hoses to create the rain.
Some outdoor scenes, most notably the fishing trip, were filmed in Phoenicia, New York. The Margaretville cemetery could not be seen from the road, so those scenes were shot at a cemetery 4 miles (6.4 km) outside the village, on Route 30.

## Reception

The film received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 105 reviews are positive and the average rating is 8.1 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "You Can Count on Me may look like it belongs on the small screen, but the movie surprises with its simple yet affecting story. Beautifully acted and crafted, the movie will simply draw you in." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 31 critics.
Los Angeles Magazine highly praised the film, specifically for its writing and acting. Reviewer Stephen Holden described the film as "the perfectly pitched directorial debut of the playwright (This Is Our Youth) and screenwriter (Analyze This) Kenneth Lonergan. Because it arrives near the end of one of the most dismal film seasons in memory, this melancholy little gem of a movie, which won two major awards at the Sundance Film Festival, qualifies as one of the two or three finest American films released this year....You Can Count on Me is an exquisitely observed slice of upstate New York life that reminds us there are still plenty of American communities where the pace is more human than computer-driven. The movie dares to portray small-town middle-class life in America as somewhat drab and predictable. Without ever condescending to its characters, it trusts that the everyday problems of ordinary people, if portrayed with enough knowledge, empathy and insight, can be as compelling as the most bizarre screaming carnival on The Jerry Springer Show."
David Edelstein called the film the "best American movie of the year", noting that "[w]hat the film is 'about' can't be summed up in a line: Its themes remain just out of reach, its major conflicts sadly unresolved. But Lonergan writes bottomless dialogue. When his people open their mouths, what comes out is never a definitive expression of character: It's an awkward compromise between how they feel and what they're able to say; or how they feel and what they think they should say; or how they feel and what will best conceal how they feel. The common term for this is "subtext," and You Can Count on Me 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." Edelstein concludes "Lonergan doesn't yet know how to make the camera show us things that his dialogue doesn't, but when you write dialogue like he does, you can take your time to learn. Hell, he can take another 20 movies to learn."
According to Roger Ebert, "Beyond and beneath, that is the rich human story of You Can Count on Me. I love the way Lonergan shows his characters in flow, pressed this way and that by emotional tides and practical considerations. This is not a movie about people solving things. This is a movie about people living day to day with their plans, fears and desires. 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."
In a 2016 BBC poll, You Can Count on Me was voted by four critics as one of the greatest films since 2000.

## Accolades

| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| 73rd Academy Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| 73rd Academy Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| 2000 American Film Institute Awards | Top 10 Movies of the Year | Top 10 Movies of the Year | Won |
| American Film Institute Fest | New Directions Award | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| American Film Institute Fest | Best New Writer | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Awards Circuit Community Awards | Best Actress in a Leadinging Role | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Awards Circuit Community Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Bodil Awards | Best American Film | Best American Film | Nominated |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | 3rd Place |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | 2nd Place |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best New Filmmaker | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| British Film Institute Awards | Sutherland Trophy | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Film | Best Film | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| 6th Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Picture | Best Picture | Nominated |
| 6th Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Top 10 Films | Top 10 Films | 10th Place |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Film | Best Film | Nominated |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Won |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Best Supporting Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2000 | Russell Smith Award | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| 58th Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| 58th Golden Globe Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | Breakthrough Director (Open Palm Award) | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Humanitas Prize | Feature Film | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best First Feature | Best First Feature | Won |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Male Lead | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Female Lead | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Debut Performance | Rory Culkin | Nominated |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Runner-up |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | New Generation Award | Mark Ruffalo | Won |
| Montreal World Film Festival | Grand Prix des Amériques | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Montreal World Film Festival | Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Montreal World Film Festival | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | Top Ten Films | 4th Place |
| National Board of Review Awards | Special Filmmaking Achievement | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | 2nd Place |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Won |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Won |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best First Feature | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Performance by a Youth in a Leading or Supporting Role | Rory Culkin | Nominated |
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Won |
| Satellite Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Satellite Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Picture | Best Picture | 5th Place |
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Nominated |
| Stockholm International Film Festival | Bronze Horse (Best Film) | Kenneth Lonergan | Nominated |
| Sundance Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Sundance Film Festival | Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Toronto Film Critics Association Awards | Best Male Performance | Mark Ruffalo | Runner-up |
| Toronto Film Critics Association Awards | Best Female Performance | Laura Linney | Won |
| Toronto Film Critics Association Awards | Best Screenplay | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Mark Ruffalo | Nominated |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Laura Linney | Won |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Kenneth Lonergan | Won |
| Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actor | Rory Culkin | Won |

## Home media

The film was released on DVD and VHS from Paramount Home Entertainment on June 26, 2001. It comes with commentary from director–writer Lonergan, cast and crew interviews, plus the theatrical trailer.