‘Bottoms’ Review: ‘Heathers’ Meets ‘Fight Club’ In This Hilarious and Chaotic Queer Movie

September 13, 2023
TOMMY

***WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the movie Bottoms***

It's a tale as old as time, really. Two misfit teenagers want to get laid before they graduate and they have to concoct a crazy scheme to make it happen. But what happens when the misfit teenagers are two hilarious lesbians — described by their principal over the loudspeaker as "ugly, untalented gays" — and they decide they really want to hookup with the hot cheerleaders? Duh: they create a literal fight club under the guise of a women's empowerment group in order to win them over. That's the premise of the new movie Bottoms, the new bloodbath of a Queer comedy from writer-director Emma Seligman. And for a movie about a fight club... goddamn they did not pull any punches! Whew!

Josie (Ayo Edebiri) and PJ (Rachel Sennott) are your standard HS best friends who never quite fit in with the popular crowd. They attend Rockbridge Falls High, and let's just say they're no strangers to having some spray-painted words across their lockers; at this point, they have even a rapport with the janitor when he comes to clean it off. But even when being bullied, the humor is what drives this comedy. After all... being tagged "Faggot #2" to your best friend's "Faggot #1"? Ugh, well that's just rude! When did she become number TWO?!

Josie has her eyes set on Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), the cheerleader girlfriend of Jeff, the captain of the football team. Josie isn't sure Isabel is a lesbian, but she's definitely noticed the extended glance or two that we all know so well. For PJ, she has her eyes set on Brittany (Kaia Gerber), best friend and right-hand woman to Isabel. Brittany is absolutely stunning — I mean... she's played by Cindy Crawford's lookalike of daughter — but she doesn't specifically give off your typical "lesbian" vibes.

The girls realize that all of these dynamics need to be explored more deeply if they want to have any chance at... well... exploring their crushes a bit more deeply. When a rumor spreads that Josie and PJ spent part of their summer in "juvi," the two figure it's the perfect time to start a fight club. Since people already think they stabbed their fellow inmates with sharpened toothbrushes, they might as well lean in and use that to their advantage. They form a student club under the guise of women empowerment and proceed to kick the ever-living $hit out of each other. With broken bones and blood everywhere, the club actually starts to fulfill the goals of empowerment they promised it would, and yes, they get closer and closer to the women for whom they pine. Eventually, word starts to spread around about the badass club, and Josie and PJ become alt-heroes of sorts, beloved by just about everyone.

Also worth noting is that the student club is moderated by Mr. G, played absolutely perfectly by Marshawn Lynch, making his acting debut. For those unfamiliar, Marshawn Lynch is a former running back in the NFL (retired in 2016) and is considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. He reportedly took the role, because of his lesbian sister. We love to see it!

Everything in Bottoms is jacked up to the nth degree. Except for a few of the core cast members, everyone in this film is an archetype that has been pumped full of 1,000 ccs of pure adrenaline. Jeff, who is played perfectly by Red, White, & Royal Blue's Nicholas Galitzine, is a hyper-sexualized senior, who is also dumb as a bag of rocks. Even his slogan to promote the classic "big game" coming up is hilariously simple: "Get horny!" The phrase is, of course, plastered around over pictures of a mostly-naked Galitzine. And the fights during the fight club scenes are gory enough, but there's one moment during a pep rally where I literally clutched my chest and blurted, "Jesus Christ!" at one particularly gruesome moment.

I won't delve into any more specifics, but rest assured, this is a movie worth seeing. Everyone in it is outstanding, the societal/feminist/Queer commentaries it makes are all on point, and it's truly refreshing to see Queer characters who are fairly loathsome. As much as we love them, and as much as they are hilarious, the two heroes in this movie are also incredibly flawed; that's why we love them! Bottoms is funny, it's sweet, and once again... I can't impress upon you enough how very intense this movie was at times. Bottoms is in theatres nationally now. And here is the decidedly NSFW red band trailer for the movie: