{"id":22637,"date":"2026-02-25T17:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=22637"},"modified":"2026-02-25T17:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:05:51","slug":"if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=22637","title":{"rendered":"If I Had Legs I’d Kick You-2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Mary Bronstein<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien, Christian Slater<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,521<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed February 25, 2026<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not being a parent myself, nor ever having the desire to be one, I was nonetheless enthralled by the subject of stressed parenting explored in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025).<\/p>\n

Examining our frazzled lead character, Linda’s, descent into madness after enduring day after day of adult chaos and kid problems, the role is wonderfully played by Rose Byrne.<\/p>\n

The actor, though memorable in 2011’s classic Bridesmaids, is usually associated with one-note or throwaway roles throughout her long career.<\/p>\n

It’s inspiring to see her finally get her due by playing a complex role with so much chops and receiving an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2025.<\/p>\n

With her life crashing down around her, Linda, ironically a psychotherapist, attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness amid pressure from her therapist, her absent husband, a missing client, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her own therapist (Conan O’Brien), also a colleague.<\/p>\n

After her living room is destroyed by water damage, she is reduced to renting a dingy motel for an extended period, where she encounters hostile motel workers.<\/p>\n

Her saving grace is her late-night solitude, when she can peacefully indulge in wine and pot while sitting on the beach, contemplating her life.<\/p>\n

Director Mary Bronstein, who also appears as a therapist, cleverly doesn’t show Linda’s daughter or husband for nearly the entire film, revealing them only through their grating voices. They irritate and stress Linda out to no end.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, Bronstein either wanted to keep the focus on Linda and her daily peril or to leave it uncertain whether they even existed outside Linda’s mind.<\/p>\n

The plot mostly involves a medical situation where Linda’s daughter, Delaney, has a pediatric feeding disorder that necessitates nightly supplemental feeding through a tube and participation in a day hospital program.<\/p>\n

Her husband, a ship captain, is away, presumably at sea. This leaves Linda to handle everything.<\/p>\n

Linda trudges through her days, arguing with a parking attendant and a contractor, while having misunderstandings with her therapist, patients, and a bitchy girl at her motel.<\/p>\n

The supporting characters are well cast and add leverage to Linda’s peril by being completely unsympathetic and sour. O’Brien is excellent as the self-absorbed therapist, while Danielle Macdonald is good as a needy patient who ditches her baby.<\/p>\n

But the film belongs to Byrne.<\/p>\n

From the first scene, she wears a weary look, and her close-up facial expressions speak volumes about her peril. Linda looks washed out and exhausted while things spiral out of control. Nearly dozing off as a patient chatters away, she finally has had enough.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, she is constantly on the brink of losing her shit.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Byrne, we are treated to fist-pumping scenes where she lets loose on both therapists and the bitchy motel girl, instantly making Linda the only rootable character in the lot.<\/p>\n

Still, she’s not exactly likable herself and incessantly makes poor choices. Her irritation with everything grows tiresome until the final sequence, when the film parleys into a message about mental illness.<\/p>\n

If I should have found the film depressing, I didn’t.<\/p>\n

Sprinkled with macabre humor, the film must have been influenced by the 1970 masterpiece Diary of a Mad Housewife, starring Carrie Snodgrass as a woman emotionally tortured by her selfish family and on the brink of a breakdown.<\/p>\n

Bronstein, also the screenwriter, makes Linda the only character the audience should focus on, and all events are told from her perspective, which makes the film a winner.<\/p>\n

Never knowing where events are headed, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025) is a sheer delight in comedic\/dramatic insanity. Though it carries a strong central theme of mental wellness, it also promotes the important message that it’s also okay not to have kids who will ruin your life.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: <\/strong>Best Actress-Rose Byrne<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>1 win-<\/strong>Best Director-Mary Bronstein, Best Lead Performance-Rose Byrne (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You-2025 Director Mary Bronstein Starring Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien, Christian Slater Scott’s Review #1,521 Reviewed February 25, 2026 Grade: A- Not being a parent myself, nor ever having the desire to be one, I was nonetheless enthralled by the subject of stressed parenting explored in If I Had Legs … Continue reading If I Had Legs I’d Kick You-2025<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6506,9428,1651,49,9427,7344,179,192,41,215,211,6396,9426,2488],"tags":[6507,9431,1654,252,9430,7347,180,193,73,216,212,6398,9429,2494],"class_list":["post-22637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-films","category-asap-rocky","category-christian-slater","category-comedies","category-conan-obrien","category-danielle-macdonald","category-darkcomedies","category-dramas","category-indiefilms","category-indie-comedies","category-indie-dramas","category-josh-safdie","category-mary-bronstein","category-rose-byrne","tag-2025-films","tag-asap-rocky","tag-christian-slater","tag-comedies","tag-conan-obrien","tag-danielle-macdonald","tag-dark-comedies","tag-dramas-2","tag-independent-films","tag-indie-comedies","tag-indie-dramas","tag-josh-safdie","tag-mary-bronstein","tag-rose-byrne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22637"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22645,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22637\/revisions\/22645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}