58You Can Count on Me (2000)

Terry and his sister Sammy lost their parents at a young age, and it affected them both deeply in diametrically opposed ways: Sammy became as responsible as Terry is undependable. But their love and their history bonds them nonetheless, in this thoughtful look at messy family dynamics. Kenneth Lonergan told Charlie Rose, “I was really interested in the different strategies people use, or are forced into, to get through life, especially when they’re hit with some kind of tragedy, which these characters are.” With his ability to write painfully realistic dialogue, the gulf between what people say and what they mean has never been more pronounced than in this 2001 Writers Guild Award winner for Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.