Lymelife (2008)

Another Sunday can only mean one thing, it’s time for another installment in the A-to-Z challenge. Twelve weeks into the year lands us on the letter “L” for this week. Let’s head out to Long Island as we look at Lymelife (2008).

Title: Lymelife

Director: Derick Martini

Released: April 8, 2009

Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

Available to stream on: Tubi

IMDb synopsis: A family unit begins to bow under the pressure of a failing marriage.

Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin) is coming of an age in late 1970s Long Island. Growing up in a suburb seems like nothing out of the ordinary, right? Wrong. Not only is Scott able to see the cracks in the marriage between his parents, Mickey (Alec Baldwin) and Brenda (Jill Hennessy), but the hysteria surrounding Lyme disease has taken the community by storm.

Unfortunately, Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton) has recently been diagnosed with having Lyme disease. The Bragg’s have lived next door to the Bartlett’s for some time now. Knowing that Melissa (Cynthia Nixon) now must provide for the family on her own, Mickey, her boss, decides to get her more involved in the real estate development project he is in the middle of. Yes, what you think happens is exactly what happens. Mickey and Melissa start having an affair. Brenda isn’t blind, she knows what is going on but tries to stay strong and rise above it all.

Scott on the other hand, not quite as quick to pick up on things, finds it odd that one day while hanging out with Adrianna Bragg (Emma Roberts), who he’s had a crush on for years, he sees his father and Mrs. Bragg come up from the basement of the Bragg’s house together. Adrianna breaks it down for Scott by telling him that Mickey isn’t the man he thinks he is before bluntly telling him that his dad and her mom are sleeping together.

Scott’s older brother Jimmy (Kieran Culkin) comes home from the Army before being shipped off to the Falkland Islands. While he’s home, Jimmy makes sure to look out for Scott. That bully at school giving Scott a hard time, well let’s just say that Jimmy took care of things. And when Mickey carelessly flaunts his affection for Melissa in-front of Scott, Brenda, and the whole town, Jimmy confronts Mickey and tries to get him to at least behave for Scott’s sake. But not even Jimmy is what he seems. He’s miserable in his role in the Army and ran off to join just so he could get away from life at home.

In addition to watching his family crumble right before his eyes, Scott is trying to manage the feelings he has for Adrianna all while entering his formative years. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, no, not at all. Especially when the stereotypical “American dream” is no longer the dream for you.

The fun part about picking random movies to review is coming across a diamond in the rough like Lymelife (2008). Now no, this isn’t a movie that is going to stick with you for days after viewing it. There is no profound message to take away. And it won’t soar up the rankings in any “best of lists”. It’s just a solid story with incredibly strong performances from everyone in the cast. Yes, Lyme disease plays a role in the movie. However, the disease itself isn’t the focal point. The main focus is on family life and how nothing is ever as it seems.

The Culkin kids are a talented bunch and I’ll watch anything that they happen to pop up in. I got lucky here with a one-two punch as we get Rory and Kieran playing brothers. I like the choice of seeing everything through the eyes of Scott and Rory was perfect in this role. He has a naturally soft and innocent look about him that gels seamlessly with the character of Scott. In rounding out the Bartlett bunch, Kieran, Alec Baldwin, and Jill Hennessy all play their respective roles admirably. So much so that we’re left almost wanting more from the characters than what we’re given, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Besides Rory, the other star who does a fair share of heavy lifting here is Emma Roberts in her role as Adrianna Bragg. She has her own family issues to cope with, her dad having Lyme disease and her mom sleeping with Mickey, but still, she manages to look out for Scott. Yes, she has feelings for him that she struggles with but there’s also a sort of sympathetic and nurturing nature to how she treats Scott.

All in all, I would have liked to have seen a bit more depth to each character. Yes, it was a tight ninety-five minutes that doesn’t overstay its welcome. But we could have just as easily added some layers to the story, and I would have happily hung around for another thirty minutes or so. That being said, this is absolutely worth a watch, and I recommend checking it out on Tubi.

So, what do you think of Lymelife (2008)? Have you seen it? Tell me what you thought of it in the comments below or by reaching out on social media!

What’s next? Next Sunday as we continue on in the A-to-Z challenge we’ll have the letter “M”. Do you have a suggestion as to what I should cover? Let me hear it! You’ll have until Wednesday morning to get suggestions in. Wednesday evening, I will announce on social media what the movie for next Sunday will be.