Bottoms – Film Review

Director – Emma Seligman
Writers – Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
Stars – Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz

We meet PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri), two young lesbian women at the bottom of the food chain at their high school; Rockbridge Falls. Through a series of unfortunate events, they are forced into setting up a self-defence class (see Fight Club) in their school. This club brings together an unlikely collection of characters. All these events take place ahead of the ‘big game’, where their school’s American Football team, the Vikings, are about to come up against their old adversary Huntington High School.

If you have a subscription to Mubi, you may be familiar with director Emma Seligman’s first film, Shiva Baby, which also starred Rachel Sennott (who co-wrote this film). Shiva Baby is a low-budget story of a young gay Jewish woman at a funeral service with her parents. This time out, the pair have reconnected to create a teen high school drama. Yes, Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri are both 28, but we’re well used to such creative casting from Hollywood!

The film dances an unusual line between a typical teen drama and an over-the-top comedy, almost verging on farce. One of the positives is that the main characters are as flawed as everyone else in the piece. There are many troubled souls on display and each character has their own issues. The aim of their fight club is for our two lesbian heroes to ‘hook up with cheerleaders’ which isn’t the most lofty ambition!

If you’re a fan of teen dramas, this is an interesting satirical take on the genre. While some characters and aspects of the plot seem far-fetched, it does feel quite unique. It’s not as well crafted as Heathers or other similar films at the top of this division, but it definitely stands out from the rest.