For the last several years, I have held Kenneth Lonergan's film You Can Count on Me in high regard. I certainly enjoyed the acting debut of Mark Ruffalo, and I never thought the performances from Laura Linney and Matthew Broderick were ever phoned in. The scenes between Terry (Ruffalo) and his nephew Rudy (Rory Culkin) were certainly unexpected and touching. And the relationship between Sammi (Linney) and her pedantic boss were crackling with the undercurrent of bizarre attraction and humor. But all this has been cast into doubt by a filmhound friend who claims the dialogue and scenes between these characters is all at the surface level with no depth underneath. I was amazed that was the charge, considering I thought the exact opposite. I could understand charges of a weak plot that unravels a bit at the end, some cliched editing, or even a pace that moves like a snail, but I always though the subtext of the conversations in the film was its centerpiece. How will I ever be able to identify with a melancholy Sammi when she laments that the reason she sleeps with a mama's boy like accountant Bob and a wife-whipped boy like bank officer manager Brian is because she feels sorry for them?