LYMELIFE
Directed by Derick Martini
Produced by Steven Martini, Barbara DeFina, Jon Cornick, Alec Baldwin, Michele Tayler & Angela Somerville
Written by Martini and Steven Martini
Released by Screen Media Films
USA. 95 min. Rated R
With Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon & Emma Roberts
 

With a different approach, this film’s scenario could have been a complete goof, somewhere on par with a VH1 celebreality show: Alec Baldwin, as a millionaire suburban father to a pair of Culkin brothers, has a scandalous affair with the most level-headed of the Sex and the City babes (Cynthia Nixon), sometime in the ’70’s during a freak Lyme disease breakout. But no, Lymelife is completely genuine, and somehow it actually works.

Don’t get me wrong, this breakout feature from first-timer Derick Martini doesn’t rival its superior predecessor, The Ice Storm—veteran Ang Lee’s brilliant 1997 take on the reality check brought about by the revolutionary 1960’s. Martini’s film resembles Lee’s in so many aspects— encircling plotlines about teen sexual angst, matched only by middle-aged sexual angst, featuring an ensemble cast whose characters struggle as much with the pressures of adult life as they do with the awkward clothing and tacky decor of the period. In both films, there’s a disturbing incident that casts a sickening pall over the town, revealing a lack of any real personal security whatsoever. Even in the sleepy suburbs, anyone could go at any time.

As derivative as the film is, though, it’s hard to beat the formula. Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts, for example, are magnetic as teenagers Scott and Adrianna. They negotiate the familiar perils of young love with much charisma, aided especially by a well-disciplined script. It’s refreshing to see young writers (the director along with his brother, actor Steven Martini) using a measure of restraint when dealing with such powerful material as teenage substance abuse and underage sex. Lymelife may be familiar, but there is more of a sense of craft here than in a film like Antonio Campos’ Afterschool, a darling at Cannes last year, but one that sensationally depicts a laundry list of the grittier aspects of teenage life without any real cohesive storytelling. Lymelife, for its lack of audacity, is instead measured and deliberate.

Most of the residents of the film’s quaint Long Island community can’t come to grips with the various sources of their unrest. Baldwin’s Mickey Bartlett sleeps around, his wife (Jill Hennessey) drinks, and his older son Jimmy (Kieran Culkin) runs off to join the army. Adrianna falls for the bad boy, while her father Charlie routinely goes target shooting in the backyard. Played by a truly underappreciated actor, Timothy Hutton, Charlie steals the show. His ostensible Lyme disease affliction is hardly mentioned in passing, and instead, a debilitating mid-life malaise comes to the surface.

Hutton’s performance is indicative of the overall sarcastic mood, and although at times this film is powerfully depressing, there are moments of great humor. Instead of fighting the angst, Charlie laughs in its face. His approach brings up the question as to whether it’s better to struggle, and perhaps identify a few of the problems lurking below the surface, or to ignore them, and have a laugh at just how sad life can really become. “You know,” says Charlie, “Sometimes I wish it was syphilis.” Michael Lee
April 10, 2009