Ty Watches "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You"

I finally watched "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You". I have wanted to see this movie ever since Rose Bryne started to get all the accolades and nominations. That is literally the only way I heard about the movie to be honest with you. I had no idea that this was even a thing until the recognition started.

I went into this movie not knowing much about it either. I knew about Bryne's performance, that ASAP Rocky was in the movie and that it was intense. All of those things were true.

The movie focuses on Bryne's character, who is a working mother who may or may not be going through a nervous breakdown. She has a daughter that has a feeding tube in her stomach, her husband is away on business and her apartment gets flooded in one of the first scenes. The movie just takes off from there. All of the talk, the recognition, the accolades, it's all well deserved. Rose Bryne is incredible in this movie. I have only seen a bit of her work prior to this, and all of those movies have been comedies. She is great in those roles as well. This movie is not a comedy. It is very  far from a comedy. But Bryne is more than up to task. Her portrayal of this mom covers every emotion. I'm a parent to two kids, and some days are harder than others. This movie puts Bryne's character in all of the most messed up situations one could imagine and she has to deal with all of this while raising her daughter alone. Her husband is away on business, and we mostly only hear his voice in the movie. All the while, Bryne has to deal with the flooded apartment, living with her daughter in a hotel, a horrific ordeal with a hamster, her daughter's illness, a support group she hates, her patients at her practice, her own therapist, the younger adults that work at the hotel and an angrier than normal parking lot attendant. She handles each and every situation with a different emotion and it is masterful work from her. All throughout I felt her pain. I also felt her annoyance. I love and adore my kids more than anything, but they can be annoying from time to time. The daughter in this is sick and constantly complaining and scared. That can get to a parent. That can be a struggle. I felt for her when she just wanted some alone time. Sometimes being alone, as a parent, is the best feeling in the world. It's quiet and no one is asking you for anything or telling you a story. It's glorious. I understood her just wanting to get away near the end of the movie. Everything came to a head and she just wanted out. Bryne portrayed that excellently. She is more than deserving of the awards she has already won, and the Oscar nomination makes way more sense to me now.

I do want to point out the solid work from Conan O'Brien and ASAP Rocky. Conan O'Brien plays the Bryne's therapist, and he is doing zero comedy in this movie. He is greatly cast as the level headed therapist opposite Bryne. He has his stuff figured out and all he is trying to do is help Bryne. She doesn't see it that way, but that is what he's doing. I was stunned by O'Brien's work here. ASAP Rocky was a revelation. He is nice and tries to help Bryne. He wants to show her how to properly relax. He tries to get her to just have a good time with him. And when he gets hurt, the anger is palpable and believable. He gets screwed over by Bryne in this movie, and ASAP Rocky does a solid job acting this character out properly, He definitely has a budding future as an actor.

When I finished the movie I sat back and thought about it. The movie is okay with a tremendous performance. The movie is also really difficult and really intense. They deal with some heavy stuff here. That was to be expected as the movie played out, but it is hard to sit through more than once. I won't be revisiting the movie, but I'm glad I watched. Performances like Bryne's don't come around too often, and a chance to watch an actor knock it out of the park is worth the watch when it comes around. That is exactly what Bryne does here. I would say watch this movie only once just so you can bear witness to one of the better performances of last year. Rose Bryne is amazing and worth the watch. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.