If I Had Legs I'd Kick You | Film Review

A down-on-her-luck mother (Rose Byrne) tries to navigate her daughter's (Delaney Quinn) mysterious illness.

As we start getting into me watching movies just for the awards buzz, this is firmly in that category. The premise of the film didn’t appeal to me that much, so I’m firmly here for Rose Byrne’s performance.

Unfortunately I didn’t love this film.

It had a really slow start. The premise doesn’t give too much away so you’re essentially going in with not much information, and it takes a long time to get to grips with the story.

The cast is so interesting – I’d never expect Conan O’Brien or A$AP Rocky to be in a story like this. But they didn’t pull me out at all, I really believed both of their characters.

But of course Byrne is the standout. While I didn’t love the film, I think her performance was as good as everyone has said. She completely carried the movie and did it with ease.

The story isn’t particularly engaging due to the way it is being told. It didn’t pull me in or make me care about the characters.

Linda's (Byrne) mind is completely chaotic, which makes the entire film feel off-axis. And while this was the intention, it didn’t really work for me. The chaos was a bit much and her stresses weren’t ones that I could always sympathise with.

That being said, it does get better the more you watch. At first it’s hard to connect with her life, but the more you get to know her the easier this becomes.

But I never felt emotionally invested, which I think is necessary to truly love a film like this. You have to feel a kinship with the character in some way, even if it’s just seeing things through her eyes. And I think this works for a lot of people, because the film has been very well received, but it just didn’t happen for me.

Overall, this isn’t one I’d rewatch – the performances were great but I just couldn’t connect with it for some reason.

5.5/10