Director Emma Seligman has delivered a fabulous new entry into the pantheon of raunchy teen comedies.
Co-writer/executive producer Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri star as lesbian high school seniors desperate to lose their virginities before graduation. A tale as old as time at this point, the focus on young queer women rather than young straight men isn’t the only twist of lemon in this soda: in an attempt to sleep with their dream girls, the two start a fight club under the guise of feminist self-defense and sisterhood.
Written by Seligman and Sennott, there is not a single inch of script wasted. Even small details, such as a primary character’s allergy or an offhand comment from a side character, come back in shocking and hilarious ways. There is also a surprising lack of certain cliches that could easily get tied up with this premise, such as “hit like a girl” or “you can’t hit girls.” The scenes where the girls scrap, whether another girl or an entire football team, prove they can take punches as well as they throw them with an often enjoyable brutality. The emphasis on size differential over gender is refreshing, to say the least.
In a scene where the fight club girls stop punching each other long enough to get to know each other, PJ bluntly asks who in the room had been raped. After elaborating “grey area stuff counts too,” every girl in the room raises her hand. In the same breath as Brittany bemoans her reputation as the pretty popular girl, she admits to being sexually violated numerous times. The former actually bothers her more than the latter, and the scene continues as if she said nothing before moving onto the next girl. This scene, despite PJ’s thoughtless lack of tact, acts as a somber reminder of how commonplace sexual abuse is for young women and girls. Moreover, it’s a subtle yet blunt expression of just how mundane it can be for some.
The entire cast is nothing short of inspired. Sennott absolutely shines as PJ, a quick-witted horn dog with a single-minded quest to get laid. She displays a comic, and occasionally jaw-dropping, lack of self awareness in a way unique to overconfident teenagers. In an interview with them magazine, Seligman expressed her desire for “shitty gay characters” and Sennott excels bringing that to life with humor and catharsis. At her side is Edebiri, whose performance of Josie is absolutely the twin star to Sennott’s. Where PJ is crass and occasionally cruel, Josie is timid and wants so badly to keep her head down until graduation. Unfortunately, brash and unapologetic-to-her-detriment PJ has other plans, putting her in an uncomfortable and complicit position. Despite her unwillingness to do so, she goes along with PJ’s scheme because, as crazy as it is, it very well may actually succeed in getting her with her dream girl.
Rising star Nicholas Galitzine, known for Purple Hearts (2022) and Red, White and Royal Blue (2023), is a frequent scene-stealer as Jeff. Damn near deified by the school, the quarterback delivers instant classic lines like, “Shut up, nerd, I fucked your mom,” with a perfect combination of dim-wittedness and the baseless arrogance that comes with being so heavily worshipped. Isabel and Brittany, played respectively by Havana Rose Liu and Kaia Gerber, are the pretty and popular love interests for the “ugly, untalented” leads. Gerber’s comedic timing and dry delivery are particularly noteworthy with lines like, “My identity relies entirely on [Isabel], so I go wherever she goes.” Liu’s brilliant comedy comes with how sweetly she speaks, even when telling Josie violence is one of her love languages. All considered, it’s Ruby Cruz’s performance is the glue that keeps the film together, much as her character Hazel does for the fight club. Quiet and a bit scrappy, she maintains the beating heart of the film. Whether she’s orchestrating The Bonnie Tyler bomb scene getting the shortest end of the stick after the inevitable reveal of the lie, Hazel maintains the beating heart of this film.
Bottoms is a hilarious, intelligent and unapologetically raunchy comedy that is as thought-provoking as it is absurd. PJ said it best: “Welcome to our fucking fight club.”
Bottoms is currently playing in theaters.
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