Laughter is truly the best medicine, and “Bottoms” is the movie to prove it. All 88 minutes of the film are filled with slapstick humor, an over exaggeration of silly stereotypes and a sprinkling of tasteful and not-so-tasteful dark humor.
The movie, labeled as a teen sex comedy, truly lives up to it. There are teens, plenty of sexual implications and humor. “Bottoms” takes you through the highs and lows of high school football but from the perspective of two lesbians trying to get with two of the most popular girls at Rockbridge Falls High through their newly founded Fight Club.
Each character is a hilariously done stereotype of a typical high school sitcom cast. From meathead jocks dating the head cheerleader to ‘hey mamas’ lesbians, right back to the divorced history teacher.
Much like how Barbie played off the “men with guitars” stereotype, “Bottoms” made a humorous parallel. Instead of playing guitar, one of the main antagonists of the film, #01 Quarterback Jeff, uses classic male manipulation tactics to get away with some pretty bizarre actions and lines.
Thanks to his charm, the excessive use of the waterworks and his insane levels of pretty privilege, everything he seems to do goes unquestioned. Proven by the lack of ‘canceling’ for all his most certainly cancelable actions.
Surely, at a normal high school, if “Shut up Nerd, I fucked your mom!” was said to the daughter of one of the school’s teachers, an expulsion may be the next step, rather than it being a brushed off admittance of infidelity and a pretty illegal relationship.
Although Jeff was not one of the two main characters, he seemed to steal the spotlight each time he was on screen…and it is safe to say that he had plenty of screentime. Seeing posters of a half nude high school boy, is a little uncomfortable for the audience, but has its way of showing how truly obsessed Rockbridge Falls High is with the quarterback.
Pj and Josie, the two main characters, are the schools biggest losers who have been pining after two cheerleaders seemingly out of their league since their freshman year.
Practically inseparable throughout the movie are these two best friends, having known each other since the first grade. As mentioned before, Pj and Josie start a Fight Club in order to hook up with the school’s prettiest gals.
Using the basis of feminism to attract club members and their advisor, they use the excuse concept of young women needing to know self-defense in order to protect themselves from the harsh reality of the real world.
“Bottoms” approaches these topics with humor and an underlying seriousness of this sad reality. Throughout the movie there are scenes about a character’s stalker, the fact that all of the girls in the Fight Club have been sexually assaulted at some point or another and the fact that women are often deemed lesser than men.
Some were taken seriously and approached in a more sensitive way, and others were hilarious one-liners that had the whole theater laughing. Jokes about performative activism, what feminism really means and the fetishization of lesbian porn are scattered throughout the film as well, doing a great job at highlighting very real issues faced by women in a way that appeals to the Gen-Z audience.
Aside from the actual content of the movie, the delivery of lines and the acting is generally amazing. Actors such as Rachel Sennot, Ruby Cruz, and Nicholas Galiztine really stick out for their more humorous acting choices. While their counterparts, Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, and Miles Fowler do a great job with more serious moments.
Not to say that they only did good with those particular movies, as each actor was extremely versatile and did a great job with each character’s angsty and joyful behaviors. Each actor really embraced their roles and embodied the ups and downs of a hormone filled teenager thrown into an absurd situation.
As to avoid major spoilers, the discussion about the end will remain vague. However, the plot twist at the end was one that was not expected. Filled with more blood than the average teen sex comedy, it is still not totally shocking considering the fact that “Bottoms” is based around sexual violence topics in the first place.
Even though “Bottoms” is not a Marvel movie, staying through the credits is a must. In between each line of credits will bring one to tears with how much laughter it will produce as a result of the old-fashioned blooper reel, which was the perfect way to finish this bizarre, yet a little dark, comedy that tells the tale of two lesbians with the goal of getting, as their advisor calls it, “coochie.”