Movie Review: 'Bottoms'

Bottoms (2023)

Directed by Emma Seligmann

Written by Emma Seligmann, Rachel Sennott

Starring Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edibiri, Havana Rose Liu, Ruby Cruz, Marshawn Lynch

Release Date September 1st, 2023

Published September 1st, 2023

Queer kids are horny too. This should not surprise anyone but our popular culture, our culture in general, has tried to hide from this fact for, perhaps, the entire history of film. Queer kids in movies may have longings, they may have desires and even a love interest, but they are, more often then not, saintly, sexless representations of their community, sanitized for the protection of mainstream moviegoers, even the so-called allies who like the idea of supporting LGBTQ but aren't comfortable actually seeing that representation in its infinite variety on the big screen.

This makes Emma Seligmann and Rachel Sennott's Bottoms a rather revolutionary new movie. Bottoms portrays a pair of queer, female lead characters whose libidinous desires drive the plot. If that's a problem for you, I suggest you skip movies like the American Pie franchise or Superbad because Bottoms, at least in terms of the frank depiction of horniness, is no different from those teenage, straight, male presentations of sexually active and desirous teens.

But where those outrageous comedies play everything straight, pun intended, Bottoms starts from a recognizable reality and spins out to a broad story that satirizes the tropes of High School comedies while getting at the heart of the anxieties that drive teenagers, gay or straight. Much like the equally spiky 80s comedy of Heathers, Bottoms presents High School life as violent dystopic, minefield of social expectations while reveling in the catharsis that can come from stepping around the expected into a place that disrupts the norms with gleeful intent.

Bottoms stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edibiri as best friends, P.J and Josie. Outcasts since kindergarten, the queer teens are hopeful that the start of a new school year can be a restart to their High School lives and personas. Both have crushes on cheerleaders that are destined to be unrequited but where P.J is willing to press the issue, Josie prefers a depressing long game that she lays out in one of the funniest monologues of 2023, punctuated by a perfect quip from Sennott's P.J for one of my favorite laughs of the year.

A rumor begins as our heroes arrive at a school sponsored carnival event. The rumor is that P.J and Josie went to Juvenile Detention over the summer where they engaged in violent, life threatening combat just to survive. The rumor grows as the pair stumble into creating their very own school club, a Fight Club for girls. The fight club is driven by the fact that their school rivals have become so ravenously violent that they are physically attacking and harming people at the school. And, somehow, this is just normal for High School life in this wonderfully alternative universe.

Thus, several of their fellow female students sign up to learn how to fight. And, it turns out, punching people is genuinely cathartic. The fight club is empowering and life for both P.J and Josie vastly improves. They become popular, they are no longer referred to by vile homophobic slurs on their lockers, and they have a circle of friends that even includes their cheerleader crushes. For Josie, that long time crush is Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) who finds the courage to leave her star quarterback boyfriend, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine) via learning to fight.

I'm making that sound inspiring and uplifting and, perhaps, in a way, it is. That said, Bottoms is far more gritty and weird than my description implies. Bottoms is weird, violent, and deeply strange in the best possible ways. The movie is incredibly funny in how it uses High School tropes and our expectations of High School movies to craft something wholly new and original. Co-Writer and Director Emma Seligmann is perhaps the single most original voice in movies today and I say that with great intention. Between this film and her debut feature, Shiva Baby, I have not seen an original vision quite like that of Seligmann.

The way Seligmann uses broad comedy and violence recalls Heathers but in a very modern and improved fashion. Bottoms is boldly, bravely willing to go to dark places all while maintaining a broadly comic tone. The final act of the movie has a legitimate body count and its well earned and very, very funny how we got here. There are recognizable traits of classic High School comedies but they are heightened by characters like few we've ever seen before. Seligmann and Sennott's talent for upping the stakes while caring for their characters is remarkable and great fun to watch.

Bottoms is one of the best movies of the year and perhaps the best comedy of 2023. These are hilarious characters who are brought to brilliant life by wonderful young actors committed to Seligmann's unique vision. I said it before, and I will say it again, Emma Seligmann may be the most original new voice in film today. There are a number of brilliant young directors, but Seligmann has established a voice and style that is remarkably distinctive, you will not mistake Seligmann's work for any other filmmaker and you can't say that about a lot of directors.

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