Pop Commentary

I really think Rose Byrne should be in the running for a Best Actress nomination at the Academy Awards for her performance in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” She tears up every scene from start to finish.

The new movie follows a mother whose life is crashing down around her as she attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.

There was a lot that I liked about this movie, but the absolute highlight for me is a scene involving a hamster in a car. It’s one of the few moments that had me laughing out loud.

Aside from that scene, this was a pretty dark film that made me feel really anxious because the amount of things the main character had to deal with was overwhelming and they just kept piling up. A film hasn’t had that effect on me in a long time, which I appreciated.

Rose Byrne did a fantastic job taking the audience through every emotion. From the opening scene on, her performance was so dropped in. There just wasn’t ever a moment where I wasn’t buying what she was selling.

As for my critiques, I could have done without the more fantastical elements of the film, like these weird orbs and pulsating visuals that showed up from time to time. I think they were meant to represent the mom kind of losing her mind, but that was pretty clear without those effects.

There are also several subplots throughout the film and the one I liked the least was the mother’s relationship with her therapist, played by Conan O’Brien. It was just a little confusing what their dynamic was, like I couldn’t tell if he liked or loathed her. 

With all that said, I was surprised with how good it was and I think others will like it too, just be ready to feel really anxious throughout it.

If you’ve already seen the film, let me know what you thought about it in the comments and subscribe to Pop Commentary for more reviews like this!