Screenhead

Mixing comedy with the manner of growing up, Lymelife is a a funny, biting and loving tribute to the American family directed by Derick Martini, making his directorial debut. Award-winning filmmakers Derick and his brother Steven collaborated on the script based on their experiences growing up on suburban Long Island.

“Lymelife,” a story about the dark side of suburban paradise and the loss of innocence centers on two deeply troubled, dysfunctional families during the late 1970s. The film revolves around an awkward, sensitive 15-year old boy, Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin), whose family life is turned upside-down after an outbreak of Lyme disease hits the community spreading illness and paranoia.

Scott’s parents — a workaholic father, Mickey (Alec Baldwin) and an overprotective mother, Brenda (Jill Hennessy) — are on the verge of a divorce as his older brother Jim (Kieran Culkin) is about to ship off for war. Complicating matters, Scott has fallen in love with his next door neighbor, Adrianna Bragg (Emma Roberts). Adrianna seems to be the only person in the world who understands Scott demonstrated by her equally troubled, less affluent family including an uptight mother, Melissa (Cynthia Nixon), carrying on a not-so-clandestine love affair, and a father, Charlie (Timothy Hutton), slowly slipping away from the effects of Lyme disease. Both profoundly funny and deeply moving, “Lymelife” looks at first love and family dynamics during a time of drastic economic and cultural change.

Release Date: April 8, 2009

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