Bottoms (2023)
High school comedies have a way of cycling through trends, and for a while the prevailing one was the post-Superbad riff: a pair of socially marginal kids, a single chaotic night, and the messy business of working out who they actually are. Bottoms, released in the summer of 2023, arrives squarely in that tradition but plants its flag somewhere rather more anarchic. Written by director Emma Seligman and her co-writer and lead Rachel Sennott, the film follows PJ and Josie, two queer, unpopular best friends at an American high school who set up a self-defence club with the transparently self-interested goal of getting closer to the girls they fancy. What follows escalates, cheerfully and at some speed, into something far more violent and far more ridiculous than either of them had planned.
Seligman made her feature debut with Shiva Baby in 2020, a film that announced her as a filmmaker with a particular gift for sustained social discomfort and very dark comedy. Bottoms is a broader, louder piece of work, backed by Orion Pictures and Brownstone Productions and aimed at a wider audience, but it carries the same underlying sensibility: a willingness to push a situation well past the point of plausibility in service of something emotionally honest. The budget was modest by studio standards, which is probably why the film has the slightly rough-edged, go-for-broke energy of something made by people who had nothing to lose by being as weird as possible. The result is a production that feels polished but deliberately unruly, like someone turned up to a formal occasion in very clean trainers.
The cast assembled around Sennott is, on paper and in practice, excellent. Ayo Edebiri, who had already built considerable momentum through television work, plays Josie with a grounded anxiety that balances Sennott's more volcanic comic instincts. Together they have the kind of easy, slightly bickering chemistry that carries a film like this through its wilder moments. Ruby Cruz, Havana Rose Liu, and Kaia Gerber round out the ensemble, with Liu in particular landing some of the film's sharpest moments. It is also worth noting the film's broader cultural timing: arriving alongside a run of comedies taking LGBTQ+ teen experiences seriously without making the queerness itself the whole point, Bottoms sits in good company alongside the kind of work covered elsewhere on this site, whether that is the sharp social satire of She's Gotta Have It or the equally committed absurdism of Zoolander, which shares a certain commitment to the bit regardless of consequences.
Let’s get the "female Superbad" label out of the way right now. Yes, alongside Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart, Emma Seligman’s 2023 comedy Bottoms is absolutely a contender for that specific, highly coveted crown of chaotic, hormone-fueled teen cinema. But what truly elevates this picture is Rachel Sennott. I was already a massive fan of her neurotic brilliance in Shiva Baby, and frankly, she is quickly becoming one of my most anticipated actors working today. Here, she co-wrote and stars, bringing a brilliantly unhinged, deadpan energy that anchors the entire absurd premise.
At its heart, this is a cracking LGBTQ teen coming-of-age story that wears its cinematic influences proudly on its sleeve. Seligman has clearly spent a lot of time analysing the DNA of But I'm a Cheerleader, Mean Girls, and, somewhat bafflingly, Fight Club. Fair play to her, because rather than feeling like a direct, cynical rip-off, she mashes these elements together into something entirely its own. The comedic delivery is razor-sharp, frequently hitting that rare laugh-out-loud funny sweet spot, and I was genuinely relieved to find a modern comedy that knows exactly when to cut to black, never overstaying its welcome for a single second.
I will admit, there is one specific narrative angle that left me shifting in my seat. The film leans heavily into the protagonists starting a high school fight club under the guise of a self-defence group, which eventually escalates to them literally arming their peers with explosives. While the escalation is meant to be part of the rising absurdity, the "bomb" angles feel a little too close to the mark for my liking. Given the very real, very grim anxieties surrounding school safety in the real world, those specific jokes landed with a slightly uncomfortable thud, pulling me out of the otherwise breezy, satirical tone.
But honestly, that single misstep is easily forgiven when the rest of the runtime is this relentlessly entertaining. Seligman has crafted a fiercely original, deeply funny, and unapologetically queer high school comedy that completely blows the doors off the standard teen movie formula. It’s loud, it’s incredibly stupid in the best possible way, and it features a cast that commits to the bit with absolute, unwavering conviction. It’s a brilliant, highly watchable slice of modern comedy.
Bottoms is, by most measures, one of the more confident and enjoyable comedies to come out of American cinema in recent years. It knows what it is, commits to it with a kind of cheerful recklessness, and benefits enormously from the creative partnership at its centre. Seligman is building a filmography that rewards attention, and Sennott, as a co-writer and performer, is proving to be one of the more interesting voices in the current wave of comedy talent. The film is not without its awkward edges, and one or two of its more extreme satirical swings will land differently depending on the viewer, but that is arguably the price of making something with genuine nerve rather than playing it safe. At ninety-one minutes, it gets in, causes a reasonable amount of mayhem, and gets out. There is a lot to be said for a comedy that knows exactly when to leave.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2026-07-23
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Bottoms (2023) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · MUBI Amazon Channel
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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