On paper, this looks like a maudlin downer. After losing their parents in an accident when they were children, Sammy seems to have gotten her life together while brother Terry wanders aimlessly from place to place, only returning to their hometown to ask his sister for money. But writer/director Kenneth Lonergan knows when to hit you and when to hold back. The result is a touching and funny film, aided in no small way by the performances of Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, and Matthew Broderick, as Sammy's pathetic boss.

Tony Peltier