MovieChat Forums > You Can Count on Me (2000) Discussion > My Problems with the Movie (Spoiler)

My Problems with the Movie (Spoiler)

posted 17 years ago by brennerp
43 replies | jump to latest

I thought it was a decent, but pretty flawed, movie. As much as I admire Laura Linney and many things she's done, Mark Ruffalo's character was the only compelling one for me in this film. But I had a more fundamental problem:

In a movie with a good script and plot/character development, events/actions may (and usually will) occur that are surprising, but they make sense/are logical in terms of that development. It is a mark of a weak script that things happen that are not only surprising but even upon reflection make no sense in terms of anything that came before. (Grade B and worse movies display this tendency often.) There were several instances of this, most notably when Sammy goes to bed with her boss. Given their relationship/interaction up to that point, this made no sense at all.

A minor, but grating element: Kenneth Lonergan (writer/director) obviously loves Bach's Cello Suites (as I do.) I think that they are some of the greatest pieces of classical music ever written. But using them here may be the worst choice of music for a given movie I've ever heard. Plus they came in LOUD. It's as if the Lonergan wanted to rub the audience's nose in how erudite he was to use that music in this movie.

[–] ShempMyMcMalley 17 years ago

I don't see it not making sense. Laura Linney's and Broderick's characters are both lonely. Broderick is in an isolated marriage. Linney has no idea who she wants to be with, and if any guy out there really exists or not for her. The fact they had the affair may have been sublimation of these inner anxieties and their outward anxieties toward each other. People and their actions and their reasons for doing things aren't always logical to say the least, moreover, this seemed to be a major theme of the movie.

This is something that happens...

[–] Percivalx 17 years ago

I agree about the choice of music. Didn't like it at all.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

[–] grhmb 17 years ago

I agree that the action of Sammy having sex with her boss fits the movie. People in lust do crazy things and Sammy and her boss fell into lust. Good for them if they can get away with this. Sammy is wild at heart.

[–] artistathome 17 years ago

I love this movie because of Mark Ruffalo and little Rudy. to me, even tho the movie is about how Terry changes and puts things in perspective for Sammy just by being around her and Rudy. He is more of the central character than she is. But the movie begins and ends with her. She is the one who changes, not Terry.

Sammy was ready for something unexpected. Terry wasn't meant to stay around and she wasn't meant to continue the affair and have lots of adventures. She had a fling and that was that.
She was meant to marry Bob and settle into a routine life she could count on. At the end when she and Bob are having lunch and not making eye contact I noticed her smiling.
She had come to terms with Bob, her baby brother's wandering lifestyle, her quiet life, the small town and it was all ok. But, I wish we could have seen what she did about her job.

Nina

[–] shayup 17 years ago

I think her involvement with her boss coincided with her brother being around and showing her that playing by the rules is pretty boring. She has the affair to satisfy that "wild" streak in her that she had suppressed her whole life. Notice she goes to a priest afterward to find out what consequences she faced after sinning. Great movie!!

[–] bono_vox_is_god 16 years ago

Personally I found the movie very true to life...many people i know end up having relationships with the most unlikely people, who they dislike intensely in the beggining. I thought the relationship between Sammy and Terry was so true, that is what really hit me. The way everything unfolds is very true. For anyone who is Sammy, or is Terry, or is even a mix of both. The way the screwed up siblings always end up being taken care of by the one's who take control of their lives, and the one's who seem to have control of their lives, are really just as screwed up, but in different ways.

I thought that the movie was perfect. I loved the music, the characters. For what it is, i find it very hard to find a flaw.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5953) a year ago

Not sure why it's worth watching then. For me a movie should lift us out of this thing called life, not remind us of it and be more of the same. At least make us laugh a little.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 13 years ago

She is the one who changes, not Terry.

This isn't so. Terry changed by the end and that's why he was returning to the pregnant GF he had run away from at the beginning of the film. Sammy had always been the one who could be counted on, Terry could not be counted on by anyone. This was something that had changed in him by the end.

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

[–] jibberitz 16 years ago

that relationship made perfect sense for her characterization. she feels sorry for certain men and will become intimate with them. she says that in the course of the movie.

its also a indication of her self-destructiveness, which she has overcome for the most part, but it gets reactivated when her brother is around.

[–] wingsndollrdraft 16 years ago

i thought all of the music was great and spot-on in it's appropriateness...the bach, the loretta lynn..it all played nicely and wasn't too predictable or manipulative of audience emotions, as a lot of scores and soundtracks are.

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[–] SusanSp 16 years ago

I must agree, the music for this movie drove me to the brink of insanity. I had to turn the movie off. I have no idea how it ended. None of the characters were well developed in my opinion. The dialogue was choppy, and the plot was thin. The movie did not flow at all. Yikes it was a disaster.

[–] christopher-j-barras 16 years ago

You turned off the film because the music, which wasnt even THAT bad, drove you to the brink of insanity. For me you would have to be one of the most fussy people in existence and already on the brink of insanity to do that. Get a grip. The film was very touching and had me gripped right until the end. The characters in my opinion were incredibly interesting, humourous, believable and very well developed. For me it all made sense. To call this film a disaster is in itself insanity.

"Don't waste my mother *beep* time!"

[–] dean-186 16 years ago

The complicated personalities of all the characters is what I really like about the film. There's no drastic character archs, just people. Kinda reminds me of a Cassavetes film.

If you want black and white, good guys and bad guys, go see a Disney movie.

[–] Kaitain4791 16 years ago

"There were several instances of this, most notably when Sammy goes to bed with her boss. Given their relationship/interaction up to that point, this made no sense at all."

I don't mean to be patronising, but...are you fairly young? The thin borderline that can exist between irritation/animosity and infatuation/lust is so well-known that it's become a classic trope in fiction, almost a cliche. It's particularly common when the antagonistic relationship exists within the confines of specific roles (e.g. work roles) but the two characters subsequently find themselves connecting outside of that context.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] befred8 16 years ago

I have a completely different problem with the movie, that Terry and Sammy just don't look like brother and sister. She's Nordic blonde while he's swarthy Latin. I realize their looks reflect their differences, she being a responsible homebody which he's a wandering gypsy. And it's not impossible, though I'm tempted to take another look at their parents before I say that. So wouldn't it have been helpful if the makeup artist had lightened Terry's hair a bit?

[–] madmac17 16 years ago

I just saw this for the second time, and it did occur to me that Terry and Sammy look nothing alike, but I still think it's a great movie. Love the performances by Linney and Ruffalo, and I thought the script was wonderful.

[–] kridge200 15 years ago

Mark Ruffalo is Italian.

[–] biggusdickus-1 14 years ago

His IMDb bio says he was born in Wisconsin.