Bottoms mocks retro raunchy high school sex comedies — but it still is one
polygon.comA movie about two students starting a fight club to hook up with hot girls might sound like it dates back to an earlier time: the 1980s circa Revenge of the Nerds, say, or the early 2000s, when raunchy R-rated high school sex comedies like EuroTrip and American Pie (and assorted sequels) were all the rage. But 2023’s Bottoms turns those two students from nerdy boys into lesbians and cranks up the self-awareness a few levels.
Directed by Emma Seligman (writer-director of Shiva Baby), and co-scripted by Seligman and Shiva Baby star Rachel Sennott, Bottoms pointedly mocks the often chauvinistic tone of these racy comedies. Like Cocaine Bear(also produced by Elizabeth Banks), it excels when it goes full throttle. But at times, Bottoms also plays right into the same problematic dynamics it’s making fun of, and it occasionally veers into weird tonal shifts. For the most part, though, Bottoms strikes a balance: It’s a playful satire, and it’s also exactly the sort of film it’s making fun of.
[Ed. note: This review contains slight spoilers for Bottoms.]
Bottoms follows two high school seniors, PJ (Sennott) and Josie (The Bear star Ayo Edebiri), who, after a series of increasingly hilarious miscommunications, accidentally start 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, two hot, popular cheerleaders (played by Havana Rose Liu and Kaia Gerber), so they continue the facade, digging a deeper and deeper hole with their convoluted lies.
Twenty years ago, this plot would be played completely straight (pun very intended), with two dweeby teenage boys as the protagonists. Handing off those roles to Sennott
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