Director: Emma Seligman
Writers: Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott
Stars: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edibiri, Ruby Cruz
Synopsis: Two unpopular queer high school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.
Yes, Bottoms slaps, punches, claws, cuts, and maims in ways that will leave bite marks with sharp teeth. This Emma Seligman comedy refuses to place itself in a box, going beyond its standard satirical tropes within its premise. It’s a teen comedy that blends Horatian and Juvenalian satire, transforming into something unexpected and invigorating. Notably, it’s a wicked commentary on victimization and socialization.
The story follows two unpopular best friends, PJ (Rachell Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), who have been cruelly shunned by their classmates, and even school officials, for not being as popular as other students. They have been best friends since their moms split the bill for babysitters, relying on each other through thick and thin.
Both PJ and Josie are gay, and their high school crushes, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber), hardly interact with them, to the point where they might not even know they exist. That is until Isabel walks away from her star quarterback boyfriend, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine), who constantly has a wandering eye and cheats on her with a refined group of older women.
Jeff becomes an obstacle when they give Isabel a ride, and the car barely grazes his knee, but he claims a serious physical injury just before the big rivalry game. Principal Meyers (Wayne Pere) is ready to expel them, conveniently ignoring that they were offering Isabel a safe ride. He claims they are starting a school club that teaches other teenage girls self-defense. Meyers tells them to “beat the shit out of each other while reading the Vagina Monologues” and sends them on their way.
Bottoms was written by Seligman and one of the film’s stars, Rachel Sennott, the director’s frequent writing partner, and all-around muse. The talented and versatile actress excels at embracing unlikable roles and winning over audiences with authentic portrayals of the exaggerated misbehaviors of teenage or young adult females. Sennott was born to play the star of an independent cringe-comedy.
From her portrayal of a young Jewish female caught between her sugar daddy and girlfriend at a funeral in Shiva Baby to her almost methodical techniques as the maddeningly annoying Gen-Z teenager in Bodies Bodies Bodies, Sennott embraces assertive behavioral imperfections. Her role in Bottoms brims with temerity, and her attitude is so full of piss and vinegar that you might fear she’d spin uncontrollably off her axis. Sennott has a mean streak in virtually all of her performances that is inherently magnetic.
The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri’s character serves as the film’s conscience, consistently thinking that starting a female fight club to meet girls is a wrong, if not hilarious, idea. Edebiri expertly delivers timeless deadpan deliveries, showcased in full display in Bottoms. She captures the sympathetic sweet spot for the gay, sexually oppressed female teenager who feels trapped as an outcast. If anything, Josie is the most submissive of the group.
Bottoms offers a fresh take on teen comedy, similar to how Assassination Nation shook up the teen horror genre. While some might playfully call it “Gay Fight Club” or “Not Another Gay Teen Movie,” Seligman and Sennett’s film both embraces and satirizes those film tropes, creating something wonderfully invigorating for a modern-day teen comedy, culminating in its shockingly brash and brutally dark comedic finale.
And this is what makes Bottoms such original comedic content. Furthermore, Marshawn Lynch’s classroom, where he credits feminism, was invented by a man, and his students stand in a cell tucked away in a corner. The way Nicholas Galitzine presents himself as a chaser of the Gen X tale or Miles Fowler’s Tim embodies the coming-of-age teen villain. They accept these women only after contributing to the overall toxicity problem that the film turns its critical eye toward.
Bottoms is perfectly encapsulated by a line near the film’s beginning in which the announcement over the loudspeaker states, “Could the ugly, untalented gays, please report to the principal’s office?” The line isn’t just a microcosm of the deliberately wild and zany takes on victimization; it also reflects how harshly judges often lack the maturity to be true to themselves. A case in point is that some choose labels, or in this case, uniforms, to fit the idea of what society wants them to be, which explains why the male villains never take off their high school football uniforms.
Bottoms embraces that awkward, authentic freakiness of high school self, venturing into the wild side even for the most fervently absurd—a hilarious and distinctive comedy with facetious humor for the modern, audacious teenage female.
No matter the orientation.
