The Most Disturbing Psychological Thriller of 2025 Is Currently Topping the HBO Max Charts

My initial introduction to Rose Byrne was via 2011’s Bridesmaids, a cultural touchstone perhaps best remembered for its unapologetically crude physical comedy. In the decade that followed, the Australian actress cultivated a prolific and eclectic filmography, though she frequently appeared in high-energy comedic roles alongside Seth Rogen, notably in the Neighbors series and Apple TV+’s Platonic. Consequently, when Byrne began appearing in promotional materials for what seemed like a cynical take on domesticity—featuring Conan O’Brien, of all people—I anticipated a familiar, if slightly darker, brand of Apatow-inflected levity.

I was mistaken. A24’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a visceral, unflinching experience that stops just short of the horror genre, opting instead for a brand of psychological oppression that is far more taxing. This portrait of a mother spiraling toward a nervous breakdown is grueling to witness. Nevertheless, the film has been climbing the streaming charts since its January 30 debut on Max. For those with the emotional fortitude to endure it, the film is a masterclass in tension.

Released in late 2025, the film stars Byrne as Linda, a woman drowning under the weight of caring for a young child with a debilitating feeding disorder. Her husband, played by Christian Slater, remains a ghostly, disembodied presence who exists only to castigate her parental failures over the phone. Linda’s environment is literally collapsing around her; a catastrophic plumbing failure destroys her home, relegating her to a grimy motel. Her profession as a therapist offers no respite, presenting instead a parade of codependent patients, while her daughter’s constant, terrified outbursts create a soundtrack of despair. As the walls close in, Linda begins to lose her grip on reality, succumbing to fractured hallucinations and increasingly erratic behavior.

Writer-director Mary Bronstein cultivates an atmosphere of dread from the opening frames, but her most effective—and unsettling—tactic is her focus on Byrne’s physical performance. Much of the 114-minute runtime is dedicated to extreme close-ups, capturing every micro-expression of Byrne’s disintegrating psyche. Conversely, Bronstein keeps the daughter, played by Delaney Quinn, largely off-camera. We see only glimpses—the clinical sight of a feeding tube, a shadowed limb—while her disembodied shrieks pierce the silence. It is an exercise in pure stress, punctuated by a particularly harrowing sequence involving a domestic pet that is difficult to forget.

In a conversation with NPR, Bronstein noted that her cinematic language was designed to mirror Linda’s profound isolation. By tethering the audience to Linda’s face, she forces a radical subjectivity. “I’m using the close-up to essentially trap the audience in this woman’s reality,” Bronstein explained. “There is no external perspective to ground us; we are forced to accept her experience as the only truth.”

Byrne echoed this sentiment in an interview with The Times, suggesting that keeping the child off-screen prevents the audience from naturally shifting their sympathies away from the mother. “If you see the child, your maternal or paternal instincts take over, and you instinctively pity the victim,” Byrne remarked. “But Linda is in a state where her child has lost her individual ‘shape’ due to the relentless grind of caregiving. It’s a taboo, shameful aspect of parenting that the film isn’t afraid to explore.”

The most disturbing element of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is its refusal to offer catharsis. As Linda’s sanity fractures and Byrne’s performance reaches a fever pitch of desperation, there is no narrative escape hatch—only a descent into the pitch-black reality of a woman at her absolute breaking point.

While “enjoyment” is perhaps the wrong word for such a grueling film, it is undeniably a compelling piece of filmmaking. Byrne’s Golden Globe win was well-deserved, even if the film’s categorization as a “Comedy” feels like a dark joke in itself. If you are intrigued by an uncompromising look at the psychological shadows of motherhood, this is essential viewing. If not, sticking to a Bridesmaids rewatch is a perfectly valid choice.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is currently available for streaming on Max and can be purchased or rented through major digital retailers.

Source: Polygon