I watched Lymelife because I like the cover (a deciding factor in most of my choices), and because it was new to DVD this week and I’d never heard of it.  After watching the trailer, I really wanted to love it.  I generally like Emma Roberts, and the rest of cast seemed like fun (Culkin brother double whammy!).  Produced by celebrated director Martin Scorsese, the DVD cover boasted that this film was, “laugh out loud funny…entertaining and moving” and “violently funny”.  My expectations were high.

But something fell short.

The plot is typical to a fault, following innocent and nerdy 15-year-old Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin) as he encounters bully problems at school, stumbles through first love drama with his neighbor Adrianna (Roberts), and deals with his parents’ (Alec Baldwin and Jill Hennessy) messy marriage problems, including his father’s affair with Adrianna’s mother (Cynthia Nixon).  This is what happens when you “come of age” – you realize that everything, and everyone, in your life is not perfect.  It’s a great premise for a movie, if it hadn’t been done a million times before.

As the plot unfolds, we see Adrianna’s father (Timothy Hutton) suffer from the lethargic symptoms of Lyme disease, which he contracted from a tick bite on a hunting trip (moral: never go hunting? ☺).  Meanwhile, an overprotective Mrs. Bartlett duct-tapes Scott’s sleeves and pant legs to his limbs in order to prevent ticks from infecting him with the same sad condition. While the duct-taping bit was comical, this was about as funny as it got.

The film was not horrible.  Many parts were emotionally charged, and others were minimally laughable (certainly not “laugh out loud” as promised).  Some parts made me insanely uncomfortable, and others were unnecessarily violent.  I think Lymelife had the potential to become a dry humor favorite, but it’s missing that witty, creative edge.

Scott did wear some fairly awesome 1970s attire throughout the film.  I probably would have liked this movie better had been released 30 years ago, when coming-of-age, independent movies of this nature were not the latest craze.

Lymelife is just a regular flick, worth an average 3 stars.  If you are in the mood for a simple tale of adolescence and hardship in suburban life, give this movie a try.