Bottoms review: a parody that could go even harder

The 1980s might seem far away when you hear about a film where two high school students start a fighting club in order to get with girls. Revenge of the NerdsFor example, in the early 2000s when R-rated sex comedy films about high school students like EuroTrip The following are some examples of how to get started: American PieIt was all about (and their various sequels). But 2023’s BottomsThis film transforms the two students into lesbians. It also increases their level of self-awareness.

Emma Seligman, writer-director Shiva BabySeligman, and written by Seligman Shiva Baby star Rachel Sennott, BottomsThe film mocks these comedies for their often chauvinistic tones. The movie is a satire of the chauvinistic tone often found in these racy comedies. Cocaine Bear It excels at full speed (also by Elizabeth Banks). 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. But for the most part. 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.]

Orion Pictures

BottomsFollows two seniors from high school, PJ Sennott and Josie (The BearAyo Edebiri) who, following a series increasingly funny miscommunications start an accidental self-defense fighting club in the name of empowerment for their female classmates. This club is a great way for them to meet their two crushes: Havana Rose Liu (as Kaia Gerber) and Havana Rose Liu.

This plot was played out in a straight-forward manner twenty years ago (pun intended), and two awkward teenage boys would have played the lead roles. Sennott and Edebiri taking on these characters already adds a new twist to the genre. The chemistry between them is intense and frantic, making their friendship seem believable. The supporting cast is stellar, particularly Marshawn Lynch as a helpful albeit self-absorbed and misguided teacher at PJ and Josie’s school. Every character fits a stock trope — the dumb jock, the hot girls, the loser friends — and they’re all dialed up to the max, really selling the movie’s parody element.

BottomsIt is at its best when the satire takes full advantage of it. Part of the high school’s hype strategy for the big football game involves plastering the halls with heavily sexualized shirtless posters of the star quarterback. In a classroom, one student is in a cage. After a particularly climatic moment, a sad montage plays out, set to none other than Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated,” a needle drop so ridiculously 2000s that it transcends time and space.

Orion Pictures

With these over-the-top moments, it’s easier to remember that this movie is making fun of sleazy male-gaze-y movies. But, occasionally. BottomsThe film takes directly scenes and tones from older movies, without re-contextualizing the material. This is why previous raunchy teens sex comesdies have aged as milk. For instance, the fundraiser scene where the hot cheerleaders sell their used underwear and walk around in bikinis — a fundraiser entirely attended by leering older men — doesn’t nail the satire, and just feels creepy.

There are enough scenes like this to undermine the movie’s otherwise on-point parodying, and that uncomfortable edge could be sanded off without sacrificing the rest of the movie’s tone. Thankfully, by the final act, the ridiculous plot elements are so fully over-the-top that it’s much easier to accept any element in the movie that might otherwise feel questionable. The two main characters are total dirtbags — especially PJ, who is just completely terrible to Hazel (Willow’s Ruby Cruz), a fellow student who stands by her side in spite of various betrayals. But considering the type of movie characters they’re clearly emulating, that’s the point.

And it’s a bit satisfying to see character archetypes that would normally be straight dudes now reimagined as queer women. It isn’t exactly empowering to see women portrayed as lusty, manipulative, lying creeps, but the gender flip does add a rich layer to the parody. It’s also more funny because it has more jokes and reaches a new audience. Every 20 years, the sexy comedy genre makes a comeback. It’s only fitting that this time around, it’s finally capturing a wider range of experience.

BottomsThe film was released in limited theaters on August 25 and expanded to a wide release by September 1.