Review: If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

-


Official synopsis: While trying to manage her own life and career, a woman, Linda (Rose Byrne) on the verge of a breakdown must cope with her daughter's illness, an absent husband, a missing person, and an unusual relationship with her therapist.

The Golden Globes are WILD for putting this film in their comedy category. While there's a few awkward laughs here and there, this film is pure parenting nightmare fuel.  Linda not only has the already tough responsibility of being a parent, but she's also a carer for her daughter who has a mysterious illness they can't seem to get on top of. Everything in Linda's life is falling apart. 

This is a tough watch, but what makes it work is that Linda isn't out there making reckless choices that make her situation worse. Awful things just happen to her organically, and while that itself can also be hard to watch, it never fell into cringe territory to me.

This is easily Rose Byrne's best performance. She's so good that the only person who could possibly unseat Jessie Buckley as the clear Best Actress frontrunner is her. There's also strong supporting turns from Conan O'Brien and Danielle MacDonald. None of the main characters are easy to like, yet I never quite got to hating them. I got where they were coming from, even if I didn't like it. 

Director Mary Bronstein chooses to shoot Rose up close and doesn't even show us her daughter's face until the end of the film. She didn't want us to view the innocent child, but only wanted us to see her as the burden Linda does. It's an interesting choice, but one I found kind of distracting. 

This is one of those films that is worth the watch, yet I can't see myself watching this again for a long time. It drains you.

Grade: B

Comments

  1. thevoid99January 5, 2026 at 2:00 PM

    I have heard good things about this as I do hope to this on a streaming service near me. Plus, Rose Byrne is awesome. A few days ago, I saw an old picture from late 1999/2000 of her and Heath Ledger dancing on the streets of Las Vegas as they were promoting a film they did. I miss Heath Ledger.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

If you're reading this message you should leave a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But...
Read more

Review: The Ugly Stepsister

-
Image
Official synopsis : Follows Elvira (Lea Myren) as she battles against her gorgeous stepsister, Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss)  in a realm where beauty reigns supreme. She resorts to extreme measures to captivate the prince ( Isac Calmroth)  , amidst a ruthless competition for physical perfection. It's no coincidence that some of the best body horror films are ones that are about the ridiculous beauty standards placed upon women. "Beauty is pain" after all. The two go hand in hand.  Here, first time director Emilie Blichfeldt takes a classic fairy tale that we all know and dials it up to eleven. Prepare to cringe. Poor Elvira goes to serious lengths to be deemed "beautiful." Nevermind that Elvira IS already beautiful, but she has *gasp* braces and a bump in her nose. ( allegedly) Her mother doesn't support her daughter and tell her she's fine the way she is, instead she encourages the painful procedures Elvira goes through. It's hard to watch on multipl...
Read more