If I Had Legs I’d Kick You follows Linda (Rose Byrne) during a particularly trying time in her life as she tries to navigate her daughter’s mysterious illness and the absence of her husband as his work pulls him away from their home. Linda’s professional life isn’t going any better as she deals with a trying client Caroline (Danielle Macdonald) who is a new mother and Linda’s co-worker and personal therapist, played by Conan O’Brien, tries his best to help her navigate the turmoil.
Where If I Had Legs is most effective is the way writer/director Mary Bronstein uses Linda’s family to depict the level of stress and pressure that she is experiencing. The film avoids showing her daughter onscreen and instead opt to just have her voice ever present in the background as Linda goes about her daily life. Likewise, Linda exclusively communicates with her husband over the phone as he’s away on business leaving her to care for their daughter and take care of their home. The end result is a highly immersive portrayal of a mother brought to the brink by extreme stress with the audience set right in her shoes as they feel the pressure and constant agitation she experiences as if they’re there themselves. It’s an inspired choice that makes everything Linda experiences and the resultant stress feel more real and impactful. The moment that Bronstein does finally choose to show their faces is perfectly in service as a metaphor for the resolving of Linda’s emotional struggles that the film documents, bringing the creative choice full circle.
While those positive aspects do exist, the story itself and watching Linda spiral as tries to balance it all holds little entertainment value or interesting aspects. Viewers are made to feel the stress she’s under, but it plays more like something to gawk at rather than empathize with. The anxiety presented onscreen is very reminiscent of the recent work of the Safdie Brothers, but without garnering the same investment in what you’re made to watch. For mothers who have had to deal with stressful family situations and feeling as if they’re barely treading water without any help at all, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You may resonate a bit more as they recall moments where they felt like Linda does in this film. Successful films don’t require having had direct experience with the subject matter to be compelling, however.
Image: A24
