This new independent film from writer-director Ken Lonergan is one of the best reviewed movies of the year. It first burst on to the scene as the big winner at the last Sundance Film Festival, and since has gone on to garner much praise, particularly for it's writing. After much hoopla, I've got to tell you, that I think this is a good film, but hardly the masterpiece I'd been led to expect

In You Can Count on Me, Laura Linney plays a single mom in a small town. Although flawed, she wishes nothing more then to make a good life for her son. She finds it increasingly difficult to keep things together, especially when the bank she works at is taken over by a new boss (Matthew Broderick). Linney hopes for a big dose of help when her brother (played winningly by Mark Ruffalo) comes to visit. Naturally, Ruffalo has a set of his own problems, but agrees to stay a while to help his sister out. While there, he builds a bond with Linney's rather sheltered son (played by Rory Culkin).

I wouldn't call You Can Count on Me another American Beauty or Ice Storm. It's not nearly as dreary. I would, however, put it in within the ilk of those pictures in the sense that this is a film about dysfunctional people and how they live their daily lives.

Linney has received much praise for her portrayal of a woman trying to make the right choices for herself and her son. And although I thought she did a good job, this is hardly award worthy work. In a year full of career altering female performances (Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, Bjork in Dancer in the Dark etc.), Linney doesn't quite measure up. This isn't to say she gives a bad performance. She does a serviceable job, and has matured as an actress--making me all but forget about her absorbing turn in Congo.

The real treasure to be found in You Can Count on Me is newcomer Mark Ruffalo. At once quirky and sympathetic, Ruffalo has a unique rhythm and makes the dialogue his own, making for one of the year's most interesting characters.

Lonergan is fantastic with dialogue. His characters speak in a natural fashion. It is the situations in this picture that don't always work. The stuff that develops between Linney and Broderick was obvious and it didn't work for me. What I found most interesting was the rapport built between Ruffalo and Culkin. He doesn't merely talk to Culkin as if he were a child. He talks to him as an equal. I don't think I've ever seen moments like this in a movie.

You Can Count On Me is a good film but not a great one. It has powerful scenes that excell on an emotional level, but as a whole, it left me a little unfulfilled. Still, Ruffalo delivers one of the best and most original performances of the year. It's worth seeing just to acquaint yourself with this very promising newcomer.