HCA Gradebook: ‘Bottoms’

Film: Bottoms (2023)

Plot: PJ and Josie start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. Their bizarre plan works. The fight club gains traction and soon the most popular girls in school are beating each other up in the name of self-defense. But PJ and Josie find themselves in over their heads and in need of a way out before their plan is exposed.

Cast: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, with Dagmara Dominczyk and Marshawn Lynch

Director: Emma Seligmana

Studio: Orion Pictures

Number of Graders: 19

Average Grade: A-

MEMBER REVIEWS

Terence Johnson
Bottoms is an excellent film, coming through like a hurricane to disrupt the movie year and film-going consciousness. The script by Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott is razor-sharp, giving the audience amazing characters and hijinks galore. I appreciated the varied styles of humor as a movie this amped up could have easily felt like too much but these two make magic. From the lewd jokes, sitcom situations, and framing (there’s an out-of-focus character that made me laugh as much as what was happening in focus), there’s a cornucopia of foolery.
GRADE: A-

Aaron Neuwirth
One can look at some core ideas concerning female empowerment, but the film cleverly understands how to foreground these elements in ways where the severity of the situation can still be matched with laughs or surprisingly brutal action sequences.
GRADE: B+

Caillou Pettis
Bottoms is a delightful and entertaining film that showcases the talents of its lead actors and the director’s ability to capture the essence of teenage life.
GRADE: B+

Christian Eulinberg
Though this film adheres to the familiar high school comedy formula, I genuinely believe it has the potential to become an instant classic in the comedy genre for teenagers. I’m eagerly anticipating my next viewing. It evokes the essence of a 90-minute Adult Swim infomercial blended with the nostalgia of early 2000s teen movies. It’s a rare gem in today’s comedy landscape, and we need more films like this.
GRADE: A-

Ema Sasic
Bottoms is laugh-out-loud ridiculous in every fantastic way possible. One of those movies that demands to be seen with others just to hear massive roars of laughter every few minutes. Emma Seligman is on a roll with her second feature film, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
GRADE: A-

Rebecca Lewis
Bottoms is brilliantly batshit crazy. More violent than expected but also with more heart. MVPs are Ayo Edibiri, who keeps it grounded in realism as much as possible, and Nick Galitzine as Jeff, a caricature of every jock ever seen on screen, and yet Nick manages to pull it back just when needed
GRADE: A-

Ricky Valero
Emma Seligman solidifies herself as one of the best comedy writers of this decade. With a brisk run time, banger soundtrack, and pitch-perfect writing mixed with an ensemble worthy of a SAG nomination, Bottoms is quite possibly the funniest movie of the decade.
GRADE: A

Tom O’Brien
Bottoms turns the teen sex comedy on its head by shifting its focus to two empowered gay teens who create a bogus “fight club for women” just so they can get close to the school’s cheerleaders. Because each time you wonder whether director Emma Seligman is going to go there, she does, along with able co-conspirators Rachel Sennott & Ayo Ediberi, which may make “Bottoms” the most subversive film of the year.
GRADE: B+

Nate Adams
A satirization of the generic teenage comedy, Bottoms re-teams “Shiva Baby” collaborators Rachel Sennott and writer-director Emma Seligman for an often wild and uneven ride where two high school girls start an underground fight club in the hopes of luring cheerleaders. As much an ode to David Fincher’s Fight Club as it is cut from the same cloth of Not Another Teen Movie, Bottoms is an ambitious step-up for Seligman considering her last film was an 80-minute single location comedy. It’s a movie not so much grounded in reality, but in the risks it takes along the way, which includes hiring ex-NFL superstar Marshawn Lynch to play a history teacher who inadvertently gets roped into sponsoring the club. Lynch, to his credit, is a major bright spot, delivering deadpan comedic delivery and it’s one of several off-the-wall choices the filmmakers take that catapults Bottoms into a league by itself. Even if you leave thinking: What the hell just happened?
GRADE: B

Rachel Wagner
Occasionally I find myself on the outside of a phenomenon scratching my head and wondering what I missed that most everyone else seems to be loving in a project. Such has been my experience with the latest raunchy comedy Bottoms
GRADE: C-

Demetri Panos
BOTTOMS is a zany, teenage raunch-com that’s big on silly with feeling. The movie has a BOOK SMART 80’s/90’s raunchy comedy with a dash HEATHERS vibe going for it!
GRADE: B+

Jana Seitzer
“I love her, your honor.” Bottoms is silly, ruckus fun with a brilliant and hilarious ensemble. This new queer comfort indie flick is sure to be a cult classic. A well-written love letter to every non-conforming high schooler out there.
GRADE: A

Kevin Taft
Bottoms is the “Heathers” of this Generation. Smart and irreverent, this hilarious look at high school underdogs doing whatever it takes to get the attention of the popular crowd not only hits the black comedy funny-none, but has its points to make. The cast is uniformly sharp, settling into the material with winking ease. It’s over-the-top in the best of ways, and people of all ages will appreciate the themes, one-liners, and biting satire.
GRADE: A

Jana N Nagase
Bottoms is funny and fresh, and I loved every second of it. Rachel Sennott & Ayo Edebiri created an incredible comedy duo that I was not expecting (I could not stop laughing). Emma Seligman & Rachel, please keep bringing more great movies like this. Definitely worth watching.
GRADE: A

Jillian Chilingerian
From eccentric gags such as a test on a Women in Murdered History test to water being poured on cheerleaders equating to actual performance, Bottoms embraces an absurdist approach to the high school movie genre. To fit the idea of a female fight club being allowed on a high school campus, Bottoms needs to be as ridiculous as possible to make it a wild ride.
GRADE: A+

Morgan Rojas
If you’re looking for the perfect back-to-school raunchy rom-com, make sure Bottoms is on the very top of your watchlist.

Exploring sexuality is a recurring theme throughout 28-year-old writer/director Emma Seligman’s relatively short repertoire. In Bottoms, which was co-written by her Shiva Baby collaborator and the film’s co-lead actor Rachel Sennott (The Idol, Bodies Bodies, Bodies), two high school outsiders attempt to lose their virginity by devising a sneaky plan to get close to their crushes which, to no surprise, inevitably turns into complete and utter chaos.
GRADE: A-

Scott Menzel
Bottoms is smart, weird, and unapologetic. It is the kind of film you must embrace for what it is to enjoy it. Bottoms is zany, violent, and totally over the top. I couldn’t stop smiling when watching it; certain scenes had me laughing out loud unexpectedly. This feels like an oddball comedy that was popular in the 80s and 90s but has gone missing nowadays. While it has elements of Heathers and Booksmart, I would say Bottoms is a movie that stands out on its own. The writing and the incredible cast are completely committed to the film’s ridiculousness. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri make for such an iconic comedic duo. This film is hysterical and one of the best comedies of the year.
GRADE: A-

Matt Neglia
BOTTOMS is destined to become a new high school cult comedy classic. So outrageous, unpredictable, hard-hitting, and side-splittingly funny, with many quotable lines. Rachel Sennott & Ayo Edebiri make for such an entertaining pair, while Emma Seligman continues to evolve & impress with her writing & directing.
GRADE: B+