I Can't Stop Thinking About If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, And How It Addresses Motherhood And Mental Health

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is another movie where it’s best to go into it as blind as possible. Buy the ticket. Take the journey. That’s exactly what I did when I saw the film at a press screening during the 61st Chicago International Film Festival. Based on the title, I knew it would be a unique movie, but I didn't know much else.

Surprisingly, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You wasn’t as strange as expected. It’s hilarious at times, endearing in other moments, heartbreaking, even a little scary, but overall, it’s a brutal look at the perils of motherhood. It’s its take on that subject that I want to discuss.

Warning: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.

I Found If I Had Legs I'd Kick You's Discussion On Motherhood And Mental Health Eye-Opening

The core of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is the story of an overworked and overwhelmed mother just trying to stay afloat. She has a sick daughter who doesn’t seem to want to or is incapable of getting well. In addition to being a mother, Linda (Rose Byrne) works full-time as a therapist. Therefore, not only is her life overwhelming, but she must cope with and handle the issues of her clients. One client’s struggles mimic Linda’s in many ways. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You offers a thought-provoking look at mental health struggles.

Sometimes we praise mothers for their sacrifices without ever really pondering how that may look for them. Linda compels because you immediately understand her burden and sacrifice. She isn’t a bad mother; she’s a normal one who may be unable to handle and process all that’s coming her way. However, you can see that Linda tries her best, but the act of mothering comes with so many responsibilities, stresses, and sacrifices.

Linda’s mental health declines are understandable and almost inevitable. Mothers already have so much to deal with, but then add the complications of a sick child. Even a superhero would lose their mind trying to handle all that. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You effortlessly captures how mothers tackle so many overwhelming challenges. Some of them persevere with a smile, while others are one bad day away from a mental breakdown. All are valid reactions.

I Think The Film Works Because It's Told From Linda's Perspective

Linda’s daughter is very annoying. Her husband seems unsupportive and absent. Her co-worker/therapist seems burdened by her existence. All her clients seem self-involved and neurotic. Then the lady running the program to help her daughter seems aggressive and judgmental. Are any of these people really like this? Maybe to some degree, but they’re mainly filtered through Linda’s lens. This is how she sees them, so this is how we see them.

We immediately see her daughter as a brat and her husband as a bit of a jerk. We’re instantly on Linda’s side. Because it’s told from her perspective, we see these exaggerated versions of these figures. This makes it easier not to judge her for her shortcomings and see how much these things and people take a toll on her mental health. You could easily understand how hard it is for Linda to take care of a sick child because the child automatically makes you feel overwhelmed. The chaotic nature of Linda’s life and these situations work because we enter this story through her perspective. We are already biased by her view of this world, and that helps drive home If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’s messages.

Caroline's Storyline Helps Really Make If I Had Legs I'd Kick You's Messages More Thought-Provoking

When we first meet Caroline (Danielle Macdonald), she seems like an extremely overprotective mother. However, as the film goes on, you realize Caroline and Linda aren’t as dissimilar as they may initially seem. Both are women left to take care of their children with little help from their spouses. They’re told more about what they do wrong than what they do right. Linda constantly worries about her daughter not getting better, while Caroline worries about the million and one highly improbable, but still possible, situations that could happen to her child.

It’s easy to judge Caroline because she comes off as ridiculous at first. However, I realized that I could easily become Caroline if I had a child. One of the reasons why I am not sure motherhood is for me is because of the overwhelming anxiety I can imagine having because of it.

Children are so small and fragile. There are a million ways you and the world can hurt them. It’s hard not to develop some type of anxiety when it comes to parenthood. Being a parent could feel like a highly anxiety-inducing movie.

The Film Made Me More Sympathetic To Mothers, Both Those Known And Unknown

Mothers are complicated. None of them are the same, but they still probably can relate because of the woes of being a parent. My mother is nothing like Linda, but I couldn’t help but think about some of the ways my siblings and I may have annoyed her as children. Even if my mother didn’t do everything perfectly growing up, I had to take a moment to reflect on how just existing could have put some unnecessary stress on her life and mental health.

I then began to think about my friends who are mothers and their own stresses. We don’t think enough about the mothers in our lives and what they must endure, and their mental strain. This then made me think of mothers in general and the difficulty of the job.

You hear so often how hard it is to be a mother, but If I Had Legs I’d Kick You really drove it home. The film really makes you feel sympathy for mothers in a way many movies fail to capture. It’s a movie that should be required Mother's Day viewing, but for the children. It may make them appreciate their mothers more.

Some May Find The Ending Too Literal, But That's Why I Enjoyed It

Linda isn’t a single parent, but this film makes her feel like one. The overwhelming stress of taking care of a child nearly alone comes full circle in the end. I am about to give a minor spoiler for the If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ending. After making a drastic decision, Linda runs into the ocean. She attempts to drown. The way I took and understood this ending was that it is a symbolic and literal display of how mothers can drown because of all the things that are required of them.

I think some may not enjoy that the ending takes the literal approach of showing Linda’s drowning attempt. However, I like that the movie doesn’t want to leave room for interpretation. Mothers are drowning. They need the world to help them, not just leave everything on their shoulders. I am glad I got a chance to watch If I Had Legs I’d Kick You because it really made me see mothers in a new, more sympathetic light. It’s one of the A24 must-see 2025 movies.