BOTTOMS: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Bottoms is like a walk-through tour of a museum for the high school comedy genre. It’s familiar, and nothing but fun as you observe the cool artifacts. Then, your expectations get flipped on their head. It has an all-girls fight club, a deadly legend about the annual homecoming game, more mugging than in an SNL sketch, and somehow ties them all together with an unexpectedly endearing message about standing up for yourself. By the end, you can’t wait to pay another visit.

What’s the Premise?

For those who’ve not heard of it, the film follows two queer high school besties named PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), who are determined to get some before they graduate. Considering they reside at the bottom of the school’s social ladder, their prospects — Josie’s got her eye on Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), and PJ’s crushing on Brittany (Kaia Gerber) — seem out of reach. However, after the two accidentally injure the star quarterback, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine), they’re suddenly the talk of the town, and conceive elaborate lies about their time spent in juvie. Reports also come out about violence against some of the female students, PJ, Josie, and their friend Hazel (Ruby Cruz) start a fight club that supposes itself as self-defense training for the female students, but which is actually their harebrained scheme to finally lose their virginity.

Why Does It Work?

It’s not the most unique premise — American Pie (1999) and Blockers (2018) come to mind — but what makes Bottoms work is its unique camerawork, soundtrack, and its charismatic and likable performances. Not since Olivia Wilde‘s Booksmart (2019)have I seen such a visually inventive teen comedy. Cinematographer Maria Rusche wields the lens with a fierce energy, always knowing the perfect angle for each shot, or when and how to move the camera when the scene calls for it. I was particularly impressed by some of the training montages in the film, which combine that energetic movement with a seemingly natural instinct for timing. In fact, I think much of Bottoms’ entertainment value comes from that cutting style, which establishes just the right rhythm to make each joke land.

In addition to the wonderful technicals, both leading ladies are instantly identifiable and easy to root for. This also lends credit to the screenplay (which was co-written by Rachel Sennott and Emma Seligman, who previously collaborated on Shiva Baby (2020)), of course, but it’s Sennott and Ayo Edebiri who make these characters stick. Everything about the way PJ struts, stutters and loudly positions herself as the authority figure in her relationship with Josie, signals a young woman simultaneously too big for her britches while desperately wanting to be loved deep down. Edebiri is appropriately the opposite, always in a slight hunch or too timid to speak. It’s as if she’s afraid a single peep could topple her and PJ’s friendship. These two actresses are magic together.

Speaking of said script, Seligman and Sennott manage to create a world both cartoonishly over-the-top (purposefully, I should add), but grounded in reality at the same time. Lots of us, myself included, can relate to these characters from our own experiences. Whether it’s PJ, Josie, Hazel, or any of their fight club pupils, there’s someone for everyone to identify with. Having often felt like an outcast when I was in high school, I immediately understood our two heroines’ journey not just to get dates, but to break out of their shells and become active participants in life.

So, Should You Check It Out?

Does Bottoms break any new ground? No. Is it up there with the aforementioned Booksmart or Blockers? Certainly not. But I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a delight the whole way through. In a world dominated by films based on iconic IPs, if you value a good and original comedy, this is one you should definitely run to the multiplex to see.

Bottoms was released in theaters on August 25, 2023.

Watch Bottoms