In my mad November/December rush to try and squeeze in everything I had missed throughout last year the existence of Bottoms came to my attention because it finally got a UK release. Unfortunately, despite living in London, I couldn’t find a showing that worked for me because there were just so few showings of it, even at the multiplexes that were usually limiting it to one showing per day, and usually when I was at work. Alas I missed Bottoms’ theatrical run but thankfully it recently released on Prime Video and I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. I can’t say I liked it as much as everybody else seemed to, but I definitely had a good time with it.
Best friends PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are unpopular at school. Not because they’re lesbians, but because they’re untalented lesbians, and they’re virgins. But with an increase in violent incidents due to the upcoming football match between Rockbridge High and their rivals, Huntington High (who are all believed to be criminals and murderers), the female populous of Rockbridge is on high alert. Seizing the moment, PJ and Josie start an extra-curricular fight club under the guise of female empowerment and self-defence, with the real reason being that they can get rough with the cheerleaders and hopefully have sex with them.
Best friends PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are unpopular at school. Not because they’re lesbians, but because they’re untalented lesbians, and they’re virgins. But with an increase in violent incidents due to the upcoming football match between Rockbridge High and their rivals, Huntington High (who are all believed to be criminals and murderers), the female populous of Rockbridge is on high alert. Seizing the moment, PJ and Josie start an extra-curricular fight club under the guise of female empowerment and self-defence, with the real reason being that they can get rough with the cheerleaders and hopefully have sex with them.
Bottoms is pretty bonkers. In any given circumstance it always finds a way to get to the most absurd conclusion of that scenario it possibly can, and in that insanity, it manages to find an unflinching truth about the patriarchy, sexuality, feminism, and adolescence. Even the film’s tagline ‘A movie about empowering women (the hot ones)’ is seeped in this painful irony because of how true it is. Feminism is having its moment in Hollywood right now with the success of films like Barbie, but let’s face it, it does only seem to be getting a platform if it stars conventionally attractive women. Bottoms meanwhile had a really tough time getting made. No studio wanted to touch it, and once it finally did get picked up no school wanted to let them film there. It was deemed too risqué, but I suppose the elevator pitch of Fight Club meets American Pie but for lesbians doesn’t exactly scream a recipe for success.
But Bottoms is excellent. It’s not quite as funny as I hoped it would be, I had expectations in line with Booksmart from what I’d seen in the trailer and I wouldn’t say it lands its jokes as consistently as Booksmart, but when they do land, they are brilliant. A lot of this comes from the excellent performances from Sennott, Edebiri, and pretty much all of the supporting cast. They’re all on the same wavelength here and they’re all just as outrageous as each other. I do think a special shoutout needs to go to Nicholas Galitzine as Jeff, the captain of the football team, whose performance is borderline cartoonish. It reminded me a lot of a young Jim Carrey.
If you’re a fan of teen comedies then Bottoms should be your highest priority right now, as its one of the best I’ve seen in years. I don’t think it’s quite as revolutionary as the discourse I’ve seen online claims it to be, but that doesn’t stop it from being an excellent and very funny film. It didn’t perform particularly well at the box office so hopefully it’ll find an audience on streaming, because I’d love to see more stuff like this in the future.
But Bottoms is excellent. It’s not quite as funny as I hoped it would be, I had expectations in line with Booksmart from what I’d seen in the trailer and I wouldn’t say it lands its jokes as consistently as Booksmart, but when they do land, they are brilliant. A lot of this comes from the excellent performances from Sennott, Edebiri, and pretty much all of the supporting cast. They’re all on the same wavelength here and they’re all just as outrageous as each other. I do think a special shoutout needs to go to Nicholas Galitzine as Jeff, the captain of the football team, whose performance is borderline cartoonish. It reminded me a lot of a young Jim Carrey.
If you’re a fan of teen comedies then Bottoms should be your highest priority right now, as its one of the best I’ve seen in years. I don’t think it’s quite as revolutionary as the discourse I’ve seen online claims it to be, but that doesn’t stop it from being an excellent and very funny film. It didn’t perform particularly well at the box office so hopefully it’ll find an audience on streaming, because I’d love to see more stuff like this in the future.