The best small-town dramas welcome the viewer back to a place they remember but never visited. The town itself has nothing and everything to do with this film, serving as a setting, a cage, and a refuge depending on who you ask. When Terry, played by a young Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers; Dark Waters), arrives on a bus under the notes of Bach’s Suit No. 1 in G Major, he’s restless, worn, home, and we’re brought right in with him. In a diner, he reunites with his sister, Samantha, played by Laura Linney (The Truman Show; Love Actually), and life unfolds in two shots. They are all the other has and yet it hurts to be there for them. This scene starts exactly 20 minutes into the movie and comes from the one-act play written by director Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea; Margaret). Expanding the play to fit a feature-length film included adding a child played by the third Culkin brother, Rory (Signs; Columbus). He looks up to his troubled uncle and wonders about his mysterious father. Linny’s role of Samantha is that of a single mother with a new boss and a troubled brother returning home. Their hometown is nothing special, but it’s also very special, because it contains the two siblings and the moments between them.
L-R: Laura Linney as Sammy, Mark Ruffalo as Terry, and Rory Culkin as Rudy in YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
New addition to the Criterion Collection, You Can Count on Me (2000), is a classy, iconic indie film, and everyone involved knows it. The included essay by playwright Rebecca Gilman (Spinning into Butter; Boy Gets Girl) focuses on the sense of remembering that this film brings with it, and how she spent years catching herself wondering about and worrying about Sammy (Linney), Terry (Ruffalo), and Rudy (Culkin). They feel like a real family, a feat achieved by Lonergan’s focus on depicting what real growth looks like, “lots of effort for just a little change” as he calls it on the commentary track. On that commentary, he is candid and confessional, not afraid to go long on a thought instead of keeping up with the film. Critically, he spends a lot of time discussing what he cut and how he shared directing duties with Ruffalo and Linney when acting as the faithful Father Ron. Everything one could want to learn about this film is there, from the influence of Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) on his stunning first outing as a visual storyteller to the page count of the film. Once 125 pages, the typed-up final cut included just 95 pages of script. As the film’s final run time sits at 111 minutes, including three and a half minutes of credits, there are 12 ½ magnificent minutes of breathing room on the screen.
“You showed up.”
”Looks that way.”
The mastered disc for You Can Count on Me will seem an odd one to physical media collectors. Instead of a “setup” bar, there is simply “SDH;” no alternate mixes and no subtitles other than English. In the chapters section, you’ll find a 20th chapter which is the broadcast standard color bars, for some reason. If it’s intentionally placed for calibration, that’s wonderful, but why is it there instead of in a setup menu with the SDH? Also included is the script for the one-act play version of You Can Count on Me. The remaining extras are sparse with just a new half-hour interview with Lonergan and a half-hour “documentary” with Ruffalo, Linney, and a rare appearance from Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day off; No Hard Feelings) who played Linney’s oppressive new boss in the film and who grew up with Lonergan. These career retrospectives are frankly wonderful, but are clearly another chopped-up set of interviews meant as one product, then split into two extras for perceived value. They needn’t have bothered. Seeing this early Ruffalo performance set against the greens of a small town in the Catskills in 4K UHD is worth the price.
You Can Count on Me Special Features:
- *NEW* 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Kenneth Lonergan, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring Lonergan
- *NEW* interviews with Lonergan and actors Matthew Broderick, Laura Linney, and Mark Ruffalo
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by playwright Rebecca Gilman and the script of the original one-act play
- New cover by Eric Skillman
Available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray July 22nd, 2025.
For more information, head to the official The Criterion Collection You Can Count on Me webpage.
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Categories: Home Video, Reviews
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