Lymelife

  • Review Date: April 7, 2009
  • R
  • Genre: Drama
  • 2009
 Review

Common Sense Media says

Affecting indie drama takes on mature themes.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

Not yet rated

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this intense indie drama perfectly captures the chaos of adolescence, from the body changes that teens experience to their struggle to grasp both the concept and reality of love. That said, it deals with mature themes, including infidelity, chronic illness, and marital discord, with adults seeming as confounded by love and life as the teens. There's lots of swearing and talk about sex, plus some partial nudity. There are also intimations of violence and a persistent sense of sadness and tragedy.

  • A man and a women married to others have an affair and are found out by their children. A woman appears insensitive to her ailing husband's pain. A man copes with his physical challenges by lying to his family and smoking weed. A boy bullies another and beats him up, though he gets his comeuppance later. A man talks about the importance of making money and wants to buy bigger and better things for his family. On the positive side, a friendship between two teens appears to create a haven from the storm created by their personal lives.
  • A bully kicks and punches a classmate, whose brother then teaches him a lesson that hurts, physically and emotionally. A man skulks around with a rifle, ostensibly to shoot a deer. A son confronts his father, and the exchange nearly turns violent. Couples scream at and fight with each other.
  • Two fairly explicit scenes -- one of a couple having sex on a staircase, and another, more tender, scene of teens making love for the first time. Teens also talk about sex, and there's some passionate kissing. Some partial nudity, but more noises and close-up shots of characters reacting. One character looks at porn and appears to be aroused.

What's the story?

Long Island, 1979: Lyme disease has hit the suburbs of New York City. But even more dangerous than the illness itself may be the boredeom. Fifteen-year-old Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin) is red meat for the bullies at school. He has a crush on his best friend, 16-year-old Adrianna (Emma Roberts), who prefers older boys and whose father, Charlie (Timothy Hutton), is falling apart after a tick bite wreaks havoc on his mind and body. Scott's brother, Jimmy (Kieran Culkin), is about to be deployed by the military. Their anxious mother, Brenda (Jill Hennessey), longs to be back in her hometown of Queens, away from her husband. And their father, Mickey (Alec Baldwin), has hit it big in real estate but is having an affair with Adrianna's mother (Cynthia Nixon), who's sick and tired of being with someone sick and tired. Can these two families be saved?


Is it any good?

 

Atmospheric and powerful, LYMELIFE is a forceful drama propelled by fine performances and first-rate storytelling. The actors -- from the surprisingly vulnerable Baldwin and a haunting Hutton to the revelatory Roberts, who may just be the next Anne Hathaway -- clearly brought their A game to the set. Ditto for director Derick Martini, who deserves credit for allowing his cast room to stretch. The script, by Martini and his brother, Steven, is lyrical, making the most of the Lyme disease symbolism without overplaying it. And witty; even though it's a drama, there are some very funny parts.

But the film does mix a few too many metaphors: There are the deer bearing deadly ticks, the trains whose screeching Long Islanders can never seem to avoid, the dream house that's never lived in. A slightly leaner script could only have improved an already strong movie. But that's hair-splitting; though Lymelife covers the same queasy, family-dysfunction terrain as The Ice Storm and The Squid and the Whale, it does so with a quiet discipline that serves it well. Each character is maddening yet completely understandable. It especially captures the confusion of adolescence, when you feel poised to conquer the world but are confounded by a world that not even adults can fully comprehend.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about whether this movie offers a more realistic look at teen life than other films or TV shows do. Why or why not? How does it approach teen relationships? What role does sex play? Families can also discuss what's happening to the characters. Why are Scott's parents growing distant from each other? And how does their tenuous marriage affect their sons? Does Scott's relationship with his older brother help or hurt his ability to cope with the problems his parents have?


This review was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo
Teen, 14 years old
February 27, 2011
 
Check out my page for other great recommendations.
I'm not here to give a review because if it shows up on my page its a 5 star movie and so therefore you know what i think about it.

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This review was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo
Studio:Screen Media Films
Director:Derick Martini
Cast:Alec Baldwin, Rory Culkin, Timothy Hutton
Genre:Drama
Run time:94 minutes
Theatrical release date:April 8, 2009
DVD release date:September 22, 2009
MPAA rating:R
MPAA explanation:language, some sexual content, violence and drug use

This review was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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