You Can Count On Me is a 2000 drama film starring Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo as Sammy and Terry, two siblings orphaned as kids. Now a single mother still living in her childhood home, Sammy works a stable job as a lending officer at the bank, and she prepares to welcome her brother on a rare visit home after communication between them has become few and far between.
Rounding out the supporting cast is Matthew Broderick as Brian, the new manager at Sammy's bank, Jon Tenney as Bob, a man Sammy has been occasionally dating, and Rory Culkin as Rudy, Sammy's eight-year-old son. The film marks the directorial debut of Kenneth Lonergan, who would go on to write and direct Manchester by the Sea.
Tropes present:
- Ambiguous Ending: Terry says his goodbyes to Rudy, then waits at the bus stop with Sammy. He promises to come back soon, suggesting Christmas. Whether or not he does depends largely on your own philosophy.
- Awful Wedded Life: We don't get to see a lot of Brian's married life, but he's very eager to jump into an aggressively sexual relationship with Sammy without any regard for his wife.
- Creator Cameo: Lonergan, who writes and directs, also plays Ron the minister.
- Disappeared Dad: Rudy Sr. is noticeably absent from his son's life, and Sammy hasn't told her son much about his father simply because she has nothing good to say. Terry eventually brings Rudy to his father's place to meet him, which proves to Rudy that his dad is not the idol he built up in his head.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Terry and Sammy, respectively. Sammy has a stable job and provides for her son above all else, whereas Terry is a listless drifter with no real ambition.
- Manchild: Terry shows clear signs of stunted growth, and he talks to the eight-year-old Rudy like an equal.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Ron, the church minister, turns out to be this. When lecturing Terry about his outlook on life, he takes on a role more like a therapist than a minister and drops the religious talk altogether for Terry's sake.
- Rejected Marriage Proposal: Sammy is very surprised when Bob, seemingly out of nowhere, springs a marriage proposal on her. She ends up rejecting it later in the movie, saying that she would've said yes a couple years ago, but she's moved on from the notion.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Sammy begins a sexual relationship with Brian, although it's not for leverage any more than it is a way for them to physically release their office frustrations with each other.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Sammy to a larger extent than Brian, although her relationship with Bob is clearly pretty casual to her.
