Among the most buzzed-about movies out of SXSW 2023 was Bottoms, a teen sex comedy with tons of promising talent attached and a eyebrow-raising premise to boot.
After the rousing acclaim for her cringe comedy Shiva Baby (one of our favorite films of 2021), Bottoms writer/director Emma Seligman reteamed with her hilarious leading lady Rachel Sennott. Together, they and The Bear‘s electrifying Ayo Edebiri tackle the story of two lesbian besties looking to hook up with their crushes by creating an all-female fight club at their high school. Given all these details, you might think you know what to expect from Bottoms, but I can assure you that you’re wrong. And that’s pretty awesome.
Fans of Shiva Baby might have walked into Bottoms anticipating the kind of comedy that spikes anxiety and pulls out more gasps than laughs. But Bottoms plays broader and rougher, moving away from cringe and deep into cackle.
Bottoms is a ruthless and hysterical parody of the teen sex comedy.
Ready for American Pie to look tame? With Bottoms, Seligman and Sennott, who co-wrote the screenplay, reveal a story that is way wilder, way wackier, and way, way more gay than the typical teen sex comedy churned out by Hollywood. Critics are citing a slew of movies as apparent influences, ranging from the hard-R Superbad to the recent SXSW hit Booksmart, as well as the dark comedy Heathers and the sapphic spoof But I’m a Cheerleader. But Bottoms blows past the cliches of these comedies with a sense of humor that is unapologetically horny and gleefully transgressive, starting with its tongue-in-cheek title.
It all begins with our heroines, bullied misfits not because they’re gay but because they’re the wrong kind of gay. The theater kid who turns out incredible musical performances every school play is high-fived by jocks, but PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Edebiri) are “gay, ugly, and untalented.” Their fashion sense causes cocked eyebrows and casual insults from cheerleaders Brittany (Kaia Gerber) and Isabel (Havana Rose Liu). Still, the awkward outsiders pine for these towering femmes. And when a weird rumor leads to a big fat lie, an improvised after-school fight club (in the name of self-defense) becomes the clumsy, sweaty, comical way for PJ and Josie to make an impression on their crushes — and the school at large.
Seligman doesn’t pull punches when it comes to comedy or violence. Her girl crew gets broken noses, faces spattered with blood, and beatdowns that made the audience at the SXSW premiere yelp in unison. Her punchlines hit just as hard, with Sennott’s PJ proving an assassin of grim jokes. For instance, when urged to make their club a place for sharing, PJ, who is bad about boundaries and reading the room, asks frankly, “Who here has been raped?” A flurry of shocked laughs trembled in the audience. Then, PJ doubles down, “Gray area stuff counts too.” As hands go up onscreen, cracks of laughter broke out in the theater as this daring comedy turned the horribly relatable into the hilarious.
Visual jokes and high school archetypes are similarly souped up, especially when it concerns the football team. Rivals in romance and school affection, these jocks are drama kings who make an amusingly melodramatic meal out of a minor injury. They wear revealing briefs for promotional posters urging students to “get horny” for football. As Jeff, a slack-jawed Nicholas Galitzine perfectly captures feral bro energy with a performance that’s equal parts horndog, hothead, and doofus, while Miles Fowler’s Tim goes more James Spader ’80s villain, with snarled smiles and none-too-subtle threats.
Adding oomph to every setting is a deluge of posters popping with absurd declarations (“Pineapples are worse than drugs!”) or ludicrously overzealous school pride, including one that’s The Creation of Adam re-imagined with God handing Jeff a football. It’s bits like this that assure Bottoms won’t just be a thrilling first viewing, but also a comedy that will reward multiple rewatches with hidden jokes.
Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri slay in Bottoms.
The supporting cast is terrific, including footballer turned comedic stunner Marshawn Lynch as the girls’ teacher Mr. G, who has a tendency to overshare and read spicy magazines in the classroom. But as funny as Lynch is, there’s no chance of a scene-stealer outshining Sennott or Edebiri.
Sennott has twice thrilled critics, first with her sharply comic turn in Shiva Baby and then as a hysterical party girl in Bodies Bodies Bodies. PJ is a new beast altogether, a bossy bestie whose mouth moves faster than her brain, leading to barbs that — while hilarious — sting. As a try-hard high schooler flabbergasted by flirting, Sennott channels self-destruction and sloppy longing into jolting pratfalls and wobbly facial expressions. While Bottoms characters are extremes, under Seligman’s direction the ensemble doesn’t lose touch with the emotional thread — the dizzying mix of lust, self-doubt, loyalty, and selfishness that makes up being a teen in the throes of like.
Where Sennott is bold, Edebiri is soft yet no less hilarious. Forget the polished and self-assured Sydney Adamu of The Bear or the casually cool Ayesha on Abbott Elementary. Josie’s gawkiness exudes from a jumpy physicality and a wide-eyed gaze that makes her recurring panic a tad contagious. Whether Josie is bumbling through a tall tale, stumbling into a formative flirtation, or fumbling to save the day in an absolutely outrageous climax, we’re bound to her vulnerability and deep, aching awkwardness. So when she falls, we may well laugh, but we also feel it like a punch to the boob.
Together, Sennott and Edebiri crackle with an explosive energy that makes PJ and Josie’s long-time friendship instantly authentic. But more than that, their chemistry makes Bottoms spark from its opening scene, where hyping each other with frantic but chaotic compliments sets the tone.
Bottoms is madcap fun.
Because Bottoms pulls so much influence from the teen comedies and tropes that have come before, you might think you’ll know where it’ll wind up. Sure, the parody dips into some familiar beats involving first kisses, a friendship on the brink of ruin, and a pivotal football game, but how Seligman knits all these pieces together is uniquely bonkers and brilliant.
Seligman and Sennott’s script pays tribute to the mayhem of being a teenager by discarding any pretense of reality and leaning hard into emotional overdrive and limitless absurdity. Nothing is sacred, be it the monument of American high school football, the glorification of teen love, or finger-wagging over teen-on-teen violence. Bottoms gives a juvenile middle finger to the lot and is better for it.
Jokes are packed so thickly that it almost feels wrong to review the film after just one watch, especially because several punchlines were drowned out by the rolling laughter from the audience. Hitting hard with a potent combination of humor, angst, and raunchiness, Bottoms is not only riotously entertaining but also sure to establish itself as a queer, chaotic landmark among its iconic predecessors.
Bottoms was reviewed out its World Premiere at SXSW 2023.
