Never Seen It! Sunday: You Can Count on Me

You know when you're talking to someone you think is like totally happening in a far out way and they ask if you've seen their favourite movie and you lie and say you seen "parts of it" because you don't want to seem like a total pop culture pariah? Yeah, we do too - and we hate ourselves for it! That's why we're vowing to watch at least one movie we've put off, ignored, rejected or just plain-out forgot about every week from now on. Join us as recount the popping of our cinematic cherries, complete with awkward, over-analytical details!

Photo: impaawards.com

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

 

DATE RELEASED: December 1, 2000

DATE ACTUALLY WATCHED:  December 10, 2010

WHY NOW?: No fancy reason. It was on TV and I have had it on my must-see list for years. Mainly because I pretty much worship everything Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney do.

WHY NOT THEN?: It came out when I was 11. And while I was a pretty ahead-of-years kid in terms of movie selection (see: me as a 5-year-old choosing Clueless over The Great Panda Adventure), I'm not sure this would have made it on my radar. I was too busy roaming the horror section and trying to seem brave.

EXPECTATIONS:

• A bunch of well-written, Sundance-approved bro-sis verbal sparring
• Skeletons peeking in and out of closets
• Laura Linney ugly crying, and in turn, making me ugly cry
• Mark Ruffalo rockin' lumberjack chic like nobody's business
• A stoic-yet-sweet small town backdrop
• That shaky cam style that every indie filmmaker seems to love

WHAT I ACTUALLY GOT... 

• A bunch of well-written, realistic bro-sis verbal sparring
• Skeletons tumbling awkwardly out of closets and leaving their dismantled bones behind
• A Benny and Joon style back story - minus the mental illness and Johnny Depp
• A smack-ya-in-the-face opening, in the emotional sense
• MARK RUFFALO IN THE TUB!
• Rory Culkin being adorable, totally not precocious and eight
• A stoic-yet-bittersweet small town backdrop
• Solid, non-shaky cinematography
• Laura Linney  ugly crying and well, you know
• Ferris Bueller taking the day off work to...be an adulterous douche!

ONE NIGHT-IN STAND OR SECOND DATE POTENTIAL? Definite second date potential, or may not lead to elopement. This is exactly the type of drama I love to obsess over - slow-moving yet significant, poignant yet somewhat presumptuous and hilarious yet heartbreaking. It also gets MAJOR bonus points for reminding me of what really is my favourite movie (sorry, Tarantino!), fellow bittersweet sibling saga, Benny and Joon. And did I mention it features Mark Ruffalo in the tub?!!