Outrageous, bloody and borderline bad, “Bottoms,” directed by Emma Seligman and co-written with Rachel Sennott, is the teen sex comedy the LGBT community has been waiting to uncomfortably laugh at for decades.
“Bottoms,” opened to a limited release on Aug. 25 and expanded nationwide on Sep. 1.
Revolving around lesbian virgin best friends PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), the pair accidentally start a fight club at their high school in an ungraceful attempt to sleep with their respective popular cheerleader crushes Brittany (Kaia Gerber) and Isabel (Havana Rose Liu).
Known as “gay, ugly and untalented” around school, PJ and Josie find themselves neck-deep in a rumor that they spent time in juvie over the summer, which only compounds after they save Isabel from her boyfriend Jeff, man-child and star quarterback, played by Nicholas Galitzine.
One thing leads to another, and girls flock to the new club, believing it will teach them self-defense against bullies and predators per Josie and PJ’s promises.
Meanwhile, the football team prowls for their darling Jeff’s assailants.
Critics and fans praised “Bottoms” subversiveness; it takes the slimy male-centered comedy trope of pining over unobtainable women and smacks it sorry.
Gay women get to make crude jokes about getting laid, revel in senseless violence and act unusually cruel.
While PJ and Josie’s hopeless passings at the popular girls is a nod to teenage perversion, viewers are inexplicably charmed by the two’s determined, dorky dynamic and naiveté.
In one instance, the pair crosses paths with Brittany and Isabel, and they try to woo the two by remarking on how skinny they are.
“Uh-oh. Call the doctor. Skinny girl, I see,” Josie says after tipping an invisible fedora.
Yes, they’re gay teenagers (ironically, played by women in their late twenties, as high school movies go), but they’re not exempt from being shallow and horny.
The movie doesn’t exactly condone their manipulative behavior but satirizes it and demonstrates that straight people aren’t the only ones who can be sexually frustrated losers.
PJ and Josie’s neglected yet endearing friend Hazel (Ruby Cruz) reminds them of their crooked intentions after they hound her for acknowledging the sense of community the fight club brings the girls.
“Bottoms” pokes fun at a rainbow of coming-of-age girl power classics and ultra-masculine movies centered on the straight male experience.
The fight club itself is an ode to David Fincher’s critically acclaimed “Fight Club” (1999), in which two bored men create an underground club for men to fight and release anger.
The film takes this premise and replaces sweaty men with enraged teenage girls, and it’s edgy and campy.
“I’m gonna f*ck up some football players, and I’m buying a gun,” Isabel says during a rush of adrenaline and rage after learning a hideous secret.
“Bottoms” mirrors Daniel Waters’ 1989 black comedy “Heathers” with its sprinkles of dark humor and, of course, a bomb explosion here and there.
“Yeah, Hazel, let’s do terrorism,” PJ sarcastically snaps at Hazel when she suggests building a bomb to get back at Jeff.
A fair chunk of “Bottoms”’s jokes drag on like nails on a chalkboard.
In one instance, Josie rants uncomfortably long about winding up with a closeted pastor because she can’t find a girlfriend.
Edebiri’s delivery is perfect, down to her inflection in “I’m packing up my vagina.”
Yet, “Bottoms” is at its best when it doesn’t let a joke linger; its quick wit suffices, and more jokes would’ve stuck the landing with better pace and less secondhand embarrassment.
Regardless, with a soundtrack composed by Charli XCX and Leo Birenberg, outfits straight from Urban Outfitters and a star-studded cast, “Bottoms” is a cheesy gay movie bound to make history.



