Review of Bottoms, directed by Emma Seligman

I knew ever since I saw the trailer for Bottoms for the first time that I wanted to see it. It looked like something that was straight up my alley from the vibes alone, and when I saw that it was going to be playing at my local AMC Theater, I told my sister to add it to our AMC rotation.

We both have a subscription and try to go whenever possible, so every weekend we pick out a movie that we want to see and prepare ourselves with blankets and smuggled in drinks.

She had no idea what Bottoms was, and apparently neither did anyone else on our side of town. We were the only ones in the theater. But there’s something magical in being the only people in the theater, as we could converse openly without disturbing anyone or cheer when certain parts of the movie unfolded on the screen in front of us.

Although, I will say, I wish this was the movie we could see with a packed audience. It’s one of those kinds of movies—it’s a better ambiance to be cackling with other people.

Anyways, onwards with the review!

Two high school lesbians start a female fight club to get closer to their crushes.

Our protagonists in Bottoms are Josie and PJ. Josie’s a nerd, while PJ is just too brash and comes across the wrong way, and it’s not surprising why she does. She reminds me of many girls at seventeen: angry and willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Anyways, these two have never had sex, and they have crushes on the two most popular girls in school.

Josie specifically has a crush on a cheerleader whose boyfriend is the star football player, and while at the carnival, the two end up in a car with her after she argues with her boyfriend.

They move the car forward, hitting Jeff’s knees lightly, as he is pretending to have a severe injury. Earlier, PJ and Josie also lied about going to Juvie to another classmate: Hazel.

The next day at school, Jeff is pretending to be severely injured with crutches, although he is seen walking perfectly normal, and rumors have spread around the school that the two girls spent their summer at Juvie. People also think they beat up Jeff, leading to them getting sent to the principal.

They lie to his face and say they want to start a fight club, and when he approves it, they convince a teacher who really shouldn’t be their supervisor (he’s doing it to pretend to be a feminist), it actually happens.

With Hazel, the two recruit other girls around the school. PJ and Josie see the club as a chance to get closer to their crushes and have sex with them, but this is something they hide from everyone.

They also continue to spread the lie about Juvie, which everyone believes except Hazel, who knows the truth after the duo admits it to her. Hazel goes home one day and discovers Jeff having sex with her mother, Josie finds out, and then Josie tells her crush Isabel, who is dating Jeff.

So the girls go off to egg Jeff’s house, and Hazel sets off a bomb under Jeff’s car. At the same time one of the football players is sleuthing to figure out and take down the fight club, and he’s starting to realize the two girls never went to Juvie.

Josie and Isabel have sex one night after she broke up with Jeff, but PJ is devastated to learn that her crush is actually straight. The club, under the threat of disbandment after the egg and bomb incident, sparks a fight between PJ and Hazel, and at the next pep rally, a wrestler is set to beat up Hazel.

The other football player exposes PJ and Josie, pitting the club against them because they lied about going to Juvie, and then the duo have a fight of their own.

Now social outcasts and without each other, they wander the halls, unliked by everyone, including each other.

After Josie goes to a babysitter on the eve of the football game with a rival school, they realize that the rival school is going to kill Jeff. Josie and PJ team back up, get the squad back together, beating up the rival team after they realize the sprinklers are loaded with pineapple juice, which Jeff is deathly allergic to.

Having saved the day, everyone celebrates as Hazel’s bomb goes off too late. Josie and Isabel kiss, and we presume there’s a happy ending.

Overall Thoughts

Y’all, Bottoms is such a fun movie. There are a ton of references packed into this short movie, and I think that if you enjoy LGBTQ+ black comedies, you’re going to love this one.

Whether the girls are punching themselves in the face or the other football player is yelling at people for trying to feed Jeff pineapples, there’s something to laugh about in this movie.

My sister, who is a more standard TikTok movie and book kind of girl, did not like this movie as much because it wasn’t her sense of humor. I thought that it was pretty good through and the running time was decent for what it is. Any longer might’ve been a little too much.

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