Do you remember the time during your adolescence when you started to see your parents as people rather than just… well, your parents? Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin) goes through this stage of his teen years in Lymelife. The backdrop of the film is Long Island, New York in 1979. Scott Bartlett is the younger of the two Bartlett boys. His older brother Jimmy (Kieran Culkin) joined the Army and only comes home to visit. Scott’s father Mickey (Alec Baldwin) is a successful real-estate developer. His mother Brenda (Jill Hennessy) is dealing with trying to ignore some of her husband’s less faithful qualities while also missing Queens and praying regularly that Scott doesn’t contract Lyme disease.
We learn in the opening of the film that during this time on Long Island (and the surrounding tri-state area), the ticks have taken over and people are contracting Lyme disease left and right. Scott’s mother regularly duct tapes her son’s clothes down to his wrists and neck in an effort to keep him from becoming some nasty deer tick’s next meal. We get to see what Lyme disease really does to a person through Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton), the father of Scott’s friend and crush, Adrianna (Emma Roberts) and husband to Melissa (Cynthia Nixon). Charlie has the disease and it’s caused him to spend most of his days hiding out in the basement obsessing over deer while Melissa and Adrianna believe he’s in the city trying to get a job.
We see the story play out mainly through Scott’s eyes. He’s a dopey Star Wars-loving kid who fantasizes about becoming more than friends with Adrianna and tries to avoid getting beat up by the school bully. When Scott’s brother Jimmy comes to visit, things change. Not only is it evident that Jimmy wants to look out for Scott, he also realizes that it’s time his brother see his parents for who they are. Is mom so wrong for missing Queens and the life they had there? Does upgrading their lives through his successful real estate development company really make dad such a hero? These are things that Scott begins to question.
Aside from lacking the voice-over narrative, Lymelife has an almost American Beauty-ish quality to it. We’re seeing the lives of two families play out and despite being mostly decent people with successful careers and a comfortable lifestyle, no one is really happy. While all of their problems are intertwined, each character is dealing with them on their own. There are times when they reach out to each other for support or comfort and it is then that we get a better understanding of where each of them is coming from.
It’s enjoyable to see the maybe/maybe-not romance between Scott and Adrianna but the sibling relationship between Scott and Jimmy truly shines. In typical brother-fashion, Jimmy is more than willing to tease and taunt Scott whenever they’re together but when push comes to shove (literally), Jimmy wants to protect Scott, not only from the bullies at school but from the things he already knows about his parents that Scott is only coming to learn. There’s a lot of heart there and it comes through in every scene that the Culkins share. Both together and separately, both Culkins deliver outstanding performances. Kieran plays Jimmy as a slightly more hardened version of his younger brother but underneath, they’re not that different. Rory Culkin brings a sort of quiet confidence to his role as Scott that allows those of us who remember him as the adorably asthmatic Morgan in Signs or “Young Igby” in Igby Goes Down to see him step out into his own as an actor.
Baldwin does a good job of portraying Mickey as a man who is goal oriented when it comes to work but less motivated when it comes to his marriage. Even his fathering abilities need work. Nixon also deserves credit for portraying Melissa in a similar light. She’s successful at her job but unable to see just how bad things really are for her Lyme disease stricken husband. Hutton, playing the close-to-mad Lyme disease victim Charlie does an excellent job with the role. And since we’re giving out verbal high-fives for great acting, throw Emma Roberts on the list as well. She brings a good mixture of maturity and innocence to her role as Melissa that makes it very easy to see why Scott Bartlett is in love with her (aside from the fact that she’s gorgeous).
One of the things that intrigued me about the film was the setting. Having grown up on Long Island, myself, I was interested to see how the area was portrayed. I couldn’t judge the film on accuracy because I was just over a year old in 1979 and do not remember ever seeing so many trees in Nassau County, however, there’s one thing I know they got right in this film. A line that was repeated more than once was, “No matter where you go on Long Island, you can always hear the train.” Anyone who has ever lived on L.I. knows that to be true. The fear of Lyme disease, was also pretty strong even in my own childhood but based on this film, it was a lot worse in the late 70’s.
Much like the time period and the setting, Lyme disease plays a fairly significant role in certain aspects of the story, but Lymelife isn’t a film about a disease any more than it’s a film about the 70’s or Long Island. The real story is about Scott, his family and the Bragg family and what they’re going through. In that respect, the film has a certain timeless quality that I think will make it relatable to most audiences.
