Bottoms (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Two unpopular queer high school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.

My Take – Gone are the days when racy teen comedies used to dominate the release dates, particularly since franchises started replacing mid-budget features all around. While we still do get the occasional release here and there, mainly on streaming platforms, very few actually manage to stand out.

Thankfully, director Emma Seligman‘s sophomore directorial feature, following the well-received Shiva Baby (2020), which she co-wrote with star Rachel Sennott, is one of the good ones. Awkward, relatable, and satirically hilarious. A film that one will know about five minutes in, if you are going to enjoy it or not.

Acting as a riff of films like Fight Club (1999) and Superbad (2007), here, director Seligman turns every hot societal topic into a tasteful joke and creates an atypical high school comedy. Combining dark humor, raunchy comedy, and slapstick comedy and even finding a way to make blood and gore funny.

Yes, the film requires a certain level of suspension of disbelief to make things work, and sure, some jokes don’t land where they need to. The film is set in a hyper-stylized reality, and it could have leaped more into the absurd.

Yet, despite such faults, it remains a bolder and more daring film than much of the recent major studio releases. Most surprisingly it is unafraid to be mean, creating that anything goes feeling that is missing from comedies nowadays.

The story follows PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), two high school seniors, who have been best friends from the start, and this year will be their year. Being the unpopular, unattractive, and atypical gay kids of the school leaves them pinning for the girls they have always dreamed of.

However, when after a series of increasingly hilarious miscommunications including a fabricated story about their summer in a juvenile correction facility, and an unfortunate confrontation with the school’s star quarterback, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine), accidentally starts a self-defense fight club under the guise of empowering their female classmates.

They realize this club gives them the perfect opportunity to get closer to their crushes, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber), two popular cheerleaders, allowing them to continue the facade, digging a deeper and deeper hole with their convoluted lies.

If you think the premise sounds over-the-top, you’re right. The film doesn’t let itself be held back by logic or storytelling conventions. Showcasing the versatility of the genre, allowing women to be as crude, violent, and horny as men. Without a doubt, Seligman directs the film with confidence and flair, creating a vibrant and energetic visual style that matches the tone of the story. And Sennott co-writes the film with Seligman, infusing it with wit and humor that reflects their own experiences as queer women.

The comedy hits so hard sometimes, that you will be rolling on the floor laughing, and then there are moments of humor that land with such a thud, you’ll be shaking your head or rolling your eyes. But, the thing about it is, the film is always swinging for the fences and that to me, is so refreshing.

It takes an absurd amount of chances, some of which pay off and some of which don’t, but you can’t help, but cheer the film on, in its earnestness. It is at its strongest when it fully indulges that satire, like part of the high school’s hype strategy for the big football game involves plastering the halls with heavily sexualized shirtless posters of the star quarterback.

Yes, as I said mentioned above, the film doesn’t work completely. It starts off extremely quirky and bizarre, and then strays from that tone throughout the film. I also felt like the film lost a whole lot of steam during the inevitable third act of the film. Luckily, the climax breathes new life into the flick, with an outrageous, bloody and bombastic finale.

In fact, the finale itself is makes it worth the watch. It’s hilarious, over-the-top, bloody, and cathartic in a really twisted way. The film really performs a miraculous tightrope walk, showing you something so nonsensical and outrageous but having it, even in the moment, still somehow feel relatable.

Without a doubt, the film is complemented by the talented cast. Ayo Edebiri continues to prove she is a comedic force, and is impressive as Josie, a sweet and optimistic girl who dreams of becoming a singer and finding love. While Rachel Sennott solidified her breakout status, delivering a hilarious and nuanced performance as a cynical and sarcastic girl who is struggling with her self-esteem and sexuality.

The supporting cast consisting of Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ruby Cruz, Miles Fowler, Punkie Johnson, Molly Gordon, Lacey Dover, Alyssa Matthews, Krystal Chambers, Nicholas Galitzine, Summer Joy Campbell and Marshawn Lynch are stellar. On the whole, ‘Bottoms’ is a hilarious and subversive teen comedy that will make you laugh out loud and cringe in sympathy at the same time.