Aug 24, 2023 · After her impressive feature debut, “Shiva Baby,” director Emma Seligman reconnects with Rachel Sennott for an unhinged comedy like few others. “Bottoms” follows a pair of lesbian best friends, PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), as they accidentally stumble into a plan that can make them both popular at their high school and win over their crushes, the statuesque Brittany (Kaia ... ... Aug 22, 2023 · Bottoms review: The teen comedy is weird, horny, and dark The cheeky black comedy stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri as teens who start a fight club to get laid. Pop Culture Happy Hour ... Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets ... Bottoms is that film you ... ... Aug 24, 2023 · Bottoms. Rated R for typical teen language, fight-club violence and football run amok. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. In theaters. Bottoms. Find Tickets. ... "Bottoms" premiered at the SXSW Festival in March, and was rolled out nationwide in theaters this Labor Day weekend. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at my local arthouse theater here in Cincinnati was attended okay (about 10 people). For what it's worth, "Bottoms" is currently rated 95% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. ... Aug 25, 2023 · Bottoms is a fresh idea, and would have worked with a funnier script. 6/10. Read More Report. 3. KingGoonie1217 Aug 16, 2024 Wow this is just a really bad movie. The ... ... Aug 24, 2023 · Bottoms ensures the summer movie season ends with one of the best comedies of the year. It is a delightfully bizarre film that is always unexpected while being perfectly balanced by the two lead ... ... Sep 1, 2023 · Bottoms takes place in a world that feels both foreign and familiar. Littered with tongue-in-cheek riffs on coming-of-age movie clichés (note all the spray-painted locker messages), its reality ... ... Mar 12, 2023 · Bottoms’ Review: Emma Seligman’s ‘Shiva Baby’ Follow-Up Is Acerbic, Airy and Less Subversive Than It Thinks. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri play two girls trying to lose their virginity ... ... ">

movie reviews bottoms

After her impressive feature debut, “ Shiva Baby ,” director Emma Seligman reconnects with Rachel Sennott for an unhinged comedy like few others. “Bottoms” follows a pair of lesbian best friends, PJ (Sennott) and Josie ( Ayo Edebiri ), as they accidentally stumble into a plan that can make them both popular at their high school and win over their crushes, the statuesque Brittany ( Kaia Gerber ) for PJ and the petite Isabel ( Havana Rose Liu ) for Josie. Isabel is in a tumultuous relationship with the school’s hunky and horny quarterback, Jeff ( Nicholas Galitzine ), whose close, overprotective second-in-command, Tim ( Miles Fowler ), makes for an unexpected adversary. By chance, PJ and Josie team up with another outcast classmate, Hazel ( Ruby Cruz ), and Mr. G ( Marshawn Lynch ), a teacher going through his own personal crisis, to start a fight club/self-defense class with less-than-zero qualifications to protect themselves against a rival school and learn to stand up for themselves. 

Co-written by Seligman and Sennott, “Bottoms” is fun and silly in all its chaos. The two have created a ridiculous world where the overdramatic high school drama is not always supposed to make sense, but that’s part of the appeal. Cinematographer Maria Rusche makes their school look dreary in blue, an oppressive space that could bring down anybody who isn’t at the top of the student hierarchy. Their teacher makes only basic statements, no explanation, and then allows his students to return to whatever the kids want to do while he reads magazines inappropriate for minors and stews about his divorce. 

In one early classroom scene, a student is shown in a cage but not mentioned. Later, we learn he’s the school’s top wrestler, presumably only allowed out for matches. The football players wear their uniforms all the time for some inexplicable reason. PJ cites feminism as a reason to start their fight club/self-dense group, but Josie points out that she actually hates feminism. The best friends go along with a rumor that they spent the summer in juvenile detention, with Josie embellishing excruciating stories of survival to their classmates’ horror. 

The movie features needle drops aplenty, including a very comedic use of the karaoke staple, Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and extra modern beats provided by Leo Birenberg and Charli XCX . It’s one silly bit after another, like candies rolling off a conveyor belt. 

There is one poignant moment where “Bottoms” drops its unserious tone for a sobering moment between PJ, Josie, Hazel, and their club members. Gathered together on the basketball court on Hazel’s suggestion that they should get to know their members better, the group starts to share traumatizing stories of assault, stalkers, and frustration over police inaction. The moment does not last long as Josie then details her “time” in juvie. Still, it’s an effective nod to the real violence girls their characters’ age endure before returning to their haphazard fisticuffs training. 

“Bottoms” pokes fun at the high school movie, the kind where the actors all look like they’re in their thirties (because chances are, they are), and there’s supposed to be some coming-of-age lesson to be learned by the soon-to-be grown-ups. PJ and Josie do learn a valuable lesson but at the expense of bruised faces, bloody noses, and more than their fair share of cuts and scrapes. “Bottoms” dropkicks John Hughes movies on their ass and lets the girls take charge—not just as pouty wallflowers or broody misfits until someone gives them a makeover. They are the weirdos; they are the nerds. They have every right to fail, be crass, make crude jokes, and shed blood. Seligman and Sennott are all in on the joke, right down to the end credits blooper reel.

In theaters tomorrow, August 25th.

movie reviews bottoms

Monica Castillo

Monica Castillo is a critic, journalist, programmer, and curator based in New York City. She is the Senior Film Programmer at the Jacob Burns Film Center and a contributor to  RogerEbert.com .

movie reviews bottoms

  • Rachel Sennott as PJ
  • Ayo Edebiri as Josie
  • Havana Rose Liu as Isabel
  • Kaia Gerber as Brittany
  • Nicholas Galitzine as Jeff
  • Miles Fowler as Tim
  • Ruby Cruz as Hazel
  • Marshawn Lynch as Mr. G
  • Zamani Wilder as Annie
  • Dagmara Domińczyk as
  • Punkie Johnson as
  • Leo Birenberg
  • Emma Seligman
  • Rachel Sennott

Cinematographer

  • Maria Rusche

Leave a comment

Now playing.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The Six Triple Eight

The Six Triple Eight

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Room Next Door

The Room Next Door

The Brutalist

The Brutalist

Mufasa: The Lion King

Mufasa: The Lion King

Carry-On

September 5

The Last Showgirl

The Last Showgirl

Resynator

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Dirty Angels

Dirty Angels

Latest articles.

movie reviews bottoms

The Great Performances of 2024, Part Two

movie reviews bottoms

The Great Performances of 2024, Part One

Laid (Peacock) Stephanie Hsu TV Review

Peacock Turns the Rom-Com Into a Game of Death in the Charming “Laid”

James Mangold on A Complete Unknown, Interview

No Box He Won’t Escape From: James Mangold on “A Complete Unknown”

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

  • Skip to main content
  • Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Pop Culture Happy Hour

  • Performing Arts
  • Pop Culture

'Bottoms' is an absurdist high school sex comedy that rages and soars

Aisha Harris headshot

Aisha Harris

movie reviews bottoms

Ayo Edebiri as Josie and Rachel Sennott as PJ in Bottoms. Patti Perret/Orion Releasing LLC hide caption

Ayo Edebiri as Josie and Rachel Sennott as PJ in Bottoms.

For some time now, there's been fervid debate around the coital experiences of fictional characters in Hollywood. "Make movies horny again!" cry some, observing an overall decline in sexual chemistry at the movies and on TV. "Sex should only exist on screen if it makes narrative sense!" others bemoan on the rare occasion sex/nudity do appear.

Circumstantial evidence – in this case, random people's social media bios – suggests a strong generational divide on the subject. The "gimme more" crowd seem to be millennials and older, raised on an MTV-erotic thriller-high school sex comedy diet of the '80s and '90s. Those being the most prudish about it tend to be Gen Zers, whose understandings of sex are likely warped by such catastrophic cultural events like the #MeToo movement and the pandemic.

Enter Bottoms , a smart and extremely weird high school sex comedy that manages to be one of the horniest movies in recent memory while also bluntly remarking upon feminist theory – bell hooks gets a namecheck – through a specifically queer lens. Perhaps not so coincidentally, it was created by two women who live just on the bubble of the Gen Z-younger millennial cutoff, director Emma Seligman and her co-writer Rachel Sennott. (The pair previously collaborated on the great and stressful dramedy Shiva Baby .)

Movie Interviews

Emma seligman on directing her first feature film, 'shiva baby'.

Like many fictional teens who have preceded them, best friends PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are on a mission to finally get laid before heading to college. The problem is, they're the "ugly, untalented gays" of Rockbridge Falls High. (To be clear, their unpopularity has nothing to do with their sexual orientation, and everything to do with the "ugly, untalented" part. Sennott and Edebiri play the awkward slacker parts quite well, and have a great rapport.) They harbor secret crushes on cheerleaders; PJ is into Brittany (Kaia Gerber), who seems too cool for everything, and Josie likes Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), who is, naturally, dating the football star – and notorious philanderer – Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine).

A series of silly misunderstandings and obfuscations lead to a rumor that PJ and Josie have spent time in juvie, which conveniently coincides with a female student's allegations of assault by someone from their bigtime football rival, Huntington High. Capitalizing on their newly forged tough girl reputations, the friends decide to start a fight club in order to get closer to Brittany and Isabel. They manage to convince their well-meaning but kind of dense teacher Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch, utterly delightful) to be their club's advisor under the guise of it being a self-defense class meant to empower young women.

Of course, PJ and Josie's plan eventually blows up in their faces, spectacularly. But not before the club gets going, and its members form a bond in between throwing punches.

With this premise, Sennott and Seligman strike both a sweet and an abrasive tone that's tricky to pull off, though they do so quite handily. Bottoms leans hard into the absurdities of our hyperviolent and misogynistic culture and pokes fun at them; in one provocative scene, the girls go around sharing their personal experiences with harassment, abuse, and sexual assault, and while it's deeply depressing, it also makes for one of the movie's wittiest comedic moments. The girls' rage is palpable, and accepted as a given in this cruel, harsh world – they hardly bat an eye when quirky and very enthusiastic Sylvie (Summer Joy Campbell) exclaims she looks forward to being able to kill her stepfather.

Bottoms is also just straight-up strange. Exactly where in the U.S.A. is this seemingly small suburban town supposed to be located, and in what era? Unless I missed some subtle hints, Seligman and Sennott have left these answers deliberately opaque: The local diner has a retro Happy Days vibe, the kids hang out at the fair, and football means everything to almost everyone, which could describe any number of places across the country.

There also doesn't seem to be a smartphone in sight or any trace of social media, though there are flip phones, one kid rocks out to his discman(!), and another uses a phone book(!!!). (Gen Zers are apparently into '90s nostalgia right now, but that last detail is particularly funny.)

The disorienting ambiguity of time and space is a feature, not a bug – it complements the rest of the film's off-kilter storytelling, which climaxes with a hilariously brutal and preposterous fight sequence. Mileage may vary, especially in these trying times of sex-in-the-media discourse, but there's something refreshing about a movie that's willing to tap into the dark sides of youth and horniness without coming off as shame-y or puritanical. In the realm of black comedies unabashedly embracing teen nastiness, Heathers walked so Jawbreaker could run, Mean Girls could fly , and so Bottoms can now proudly land in outer space.

We sent an email to [email protected]

Didn't you get the email?

By joining, you agree to the Terms and Policies and Privacy Policy and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Rotten Tomatoes Newsletter

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

  • Upcoming Movies and TV shows
  • Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
  • Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

  • About Rotten Tomatoes®
  • Login/signup

movie reviews bottoms

Movies in theaters

  • Opening This Week
  • Top Box Office
  • Coming Soon to Theaters
  • Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

  • Fandango at Home
  • Prime Video
  • Most Popular Streaming Movies
  • What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

  • 96% The Brutalist Link to The Brutalist
  • 86% The Room Next Door Link to The Room Next Door
  • 86% Carry-On Link to Carry-On

New TV Tonight

  • 94% Laid: Season 1
  • -- Fast Friends: Season 1
  • -- Virgin River: Season 6
  • -- Beast Games: Season 1
  • -- Aaron Rodgers: Enigma: Season 1
  • -- The Secret Lives of Animals: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

  • 93% Black Doves: Season 1
  • 81% No Good Deed: Season 1
  • 84% One Hundred Years of Solitude: Season 1
  • 89% Star Wars: Skeleton Crew: Season 1
  • 69% Secret Level: Season 1
  • -- La Palma: Season 1
  • 73% Dexter: Original Sin: Season 1
  • 86% The Day of the Jackal: Season 1
  • 70% Dune: Prophecy: Season 1
  • 68% The Agency: Season 1
  • Best TV Shows
  • Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

  • 81% No Good Deed: Season 1 Link to No Good Deed: Season 1
  • All-Time Lists
  • Binge Guide
  • Comics on TV
  • Five Favorite Films
  • Video Interviews
  • Weekend Box Office
  • Weekly Ketchup
  • What to Watch

50 Best Music Biopic Movies

Timothée Chalamet’s Best Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming.

Awards Tour

2025 Golden Globe Awards Ballot: Complete with Tomatometer and Popcornmeter Scores

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

  • Trending on RT
  • Awards Season
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Renewed and Cancelled TV
  • TV Premiere Dates

Bottoms Reviews

movie reviews bottoms

Like its most enduring high-school predecessors, Bottoms is at its best in its smaller moments, its throwaway lines and when it gives its characters time to bond.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 11, 2024

Hilarious, over-the-top, bloody, and cathartic in a really twisted way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 21, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

Bottoms is that film you’ve wanted to see but didn’t know you needed, we were all due this ridiculous teen comedy.

Full Review | Nov 13, 2024

I thought this was hilarious and completely insane. I would have appreciated some more tender moments to provide some levity to the situation.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 24, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

This is an enjoyable, quirky movie that has a strong first and second act with a rushed third act that had moments that didn't quite feel earned. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun watching this!

It’s a smart comedy disguised as a stupid one, with a thousand jokes landing per minute and some of the *tightest* mise en scène we’ve ever scène. But even if it were just a stupid comedy, guys make those all the time. That’s the point of feminism.

Full Review | Jun 7, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

Bottoms is the best high school comedy since Booksmart, and, for my money, an instant classic.

Full Review | May 21, 2024

Seligman's deliberate and catchy directing style takes us into a world...

Full Review | Apr 17, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

In just 91 minutes, Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott keep the laughs coming in breakneck fashion, with each massive setpiece as gut-bustingly hilarious as the last.

Full Review | Mar 5, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

I absolutely loved this film top to. . .bottom.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

One of the best (if not the best) comedy films of 2023.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

Yes, this looks and smells and feels like an American high school, but this is absurdism first and foremost. I think we can safely say that both Seligman and Sennott firmly have our attention.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 7, 2024

Bottoms is two things at once, which is a fun little trick. One on hand, it's a fun and sweet little coming-of-age comedy...on the other hand, it's also just delightfully weird.

Full Review | Jan 13, 2024

movie reviews bottoms

Bottoms really might be the funniest movie of the decade so far.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2024

Bottoms is scarily unapologetic in its raw, ironic caricature of young adult relationships and the high school pecking order.

Full Review | Jan 3, 2024

Full of biting and brilliant dialogue, Bottoms portrays the absurdity of two losers and liars who take advantage of the feminist agenda... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Dec 1, 2023

movie reviews bottoms

Endearingly silly in a 'high school media project' kind of way.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 1, 2023

It will probably be regarded as a cult classic in years to come but, right now, Bottoms is a nice try that could have been so much more.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 30, 2023

movie reviews bottoms

What could have been a raunchy 1980s-style adult comedy flails at every turn, with sodden performances and gags that are as funny as a toothache. A confused, contradictory mess...Awful. Absolutely awful.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 30, 2023

movie reviews bottoms

As outré as Bottoms is it has a heart of gold to go along with the broken noses, gouged and blackened eyes. Bottoms is one of the best and cleverest comedies of 2023 and demands its own cheer squad and victory lap.

Full Review | Nov 30, 2023

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Bottoms’ Review: Physical Education

In this buddy comedy, senior outcasts played by Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri attempt to woo two cheerleaders through a fight club.

  • Share full article

Two girls stand in a high school gymnasium. One is wearing an Atari T-shirt and the other is wearing a patchwork shirt and a hoodie. They both look bewildered.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

Josie and PJ are high school seniors, and they have some pressing unfinished business. “Do you want to be the only girl virgin at Sarah Lawrence?” PJ (Rachel Sennott) asks Josie (Ayo Edebiri) during the dark-night-of-the-soul conversation that begins “Bottoms.” Yes, Emma Seligman’s comedy takes off with tires screeching.

It is imperative for our buddies to have sex, stat, but that is a complicated proposition: Not only are they unpopular outcasts — “the ugly, untalented gays,” as opposed to the ones who breezily sashay down the hallways — but they have set their sights on two unapproachably hot cheerleaders. It is obvious that PJ and Josie will need some devious scheming to win over their crushes.

Going along with a rumor that they’ve spent time in juvenile detention, the pair acquire an instant reputation as tough girls and the school lets them start a self-defense club in which the most vicious brawls are somehow allowed. Even Josie’s object of desire, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), is impressed by consciousness-raising through punching, even more so after she learns her quarterback boyfriend (Nicholas Galitzine, of “ Red, White & Royal Blue ”) is cheating on her.

Seligman and Sennott’s first collaboration was the quietly unsettling “ Shiva Baby ” (2021), which took place almost entirely over the span of one afternoon at the title wake, and progressively ensnared Sennott’s character in a web of deadpan, discomforting humor. For their follow-up, the collaborators (Sennott wrote the movie with Seligman) have gone down a completely different stylistic road, putting a queer spin on teenage sex comedies à la “Superbad” and “American Pie.” They have replaced the death by a thousand cuts of “Shiva Baby” with a gleeful broadness. It ultimately fizzes out, but “Bottoms” confirms that Seligman and Sennott are major new forces in American comedy.

A lot does click here, including several delicious supporting performances, most notably the former N.F.L. running back Marshawn Lynch as the fight club’s loopy faculty adviser and Ruby Cruz as Hazel, a cool classmate whom, naturally, PJ does not even see. The script also lands many corkers, as when a student named Annie (Zamani Wilder) complains “this is the second wave all over again” after realizing PJ and Josie were prioritizing self-serving goals over sisterhood.

That last aspect is what feels most undernourished and, in the end, unexpectedly timid. Not much is made of the fact that PJ is one of the biggest liars and bullies of the story and uses her gift of gab to cynically deploy empowerment messaging. And while the movie is set in a surreally heightened universe in which football players never leave their uniform and teachers read girlie magazines in class, it is oddly more comfortable goofing off with outrageous violence than elementary sexuality.

For most of its tight running time, “Bottoms” hovers on the cusp of greatness. It’s often funny but it also never delivers satisfying set pieces, and stops short of questioning — not to mention subverting — the warped high school stratification that remains one of America’s building blocks.

Rated R for typical teen language, fight-club violence and football run amok. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. In theaters.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

What Is a New York Movie? : Whether it was “A Complete Unknown” with 1960s Greenwich Village or “Anora” with present-day Brooklyn, filmmakers put new frames around the city .

From Bad Boy to Good Dad : Christian Slater’s tumultuous past has given way to a “very happy” family life . He plays a father on “Dexter: Original Sin,” too — but to keep a serial killer in check, you still need some edge.

Sex, Death and Nicole Kidman : Between her experience on “Babygirl” and her mother’s death, the star has come to understand a lot about women in unfulfilled lives .

Streaming Guides:  If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Watching Newsletter:  Sign up to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows  to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

  • Cast & crew

User reviews

Havana Rose Liu, Marshawn Lynch, Miles Fowler, Nicholas Galitzine, Rachel Sennott, Kaia Gerber, Ayo Edebiri, and Ruby Cruz in Bottoms (2023)

Unhinged in the best possible sense

  • TheVictoriousV
  • Sep 23, 2023

Highly cartoonish, ridiculous...and amusing

  • cliftonofun
  • Jan 12, 2024

Takes from other films, but is also wholly unique

  • jtindahouse
  • Oct 2, 2023

Not nearly as funny as I had expected

  • paul-allaer
  • Sep 1, 2023
  • Apr 10, 2024

I will rewatch this one for years to come

  • Dec 28, 2023

Fun but Flawed Lesbian High School Comedy

  • akoaytao1234
  • Oct 8, 2023

insanely funny and fresh. the future of cinema.

  • girlypopfilmeuthusiast
  • Aug 23, 2023

Promising first half, then goes off the rails

  • filmguyci-22804
  • Sep 8, 2023

Maybe I'm just too old to get the humour in this

  • isaacsundaralingam
  • Sep 21, 2023

Line-for-line one of the funniest comedies ever

  • Nov 6, 2023
  • Sep 24, 2023

Should have been funnier

  • exceladeogun
  • Sep 30, 2023

A movie you've seen before, just queer this time.

  • Aug 31, 2023

An Old School Comedy

  • RegalsReelView

Bottoms up!

  • donmurray29
  • Nov 10, 2023

Wonderful Modern Queer Comedy

  • Aug 24, 2023

Bottoms (2023) Excellent ironic humor

  • claszdsburrogato
  • Jan 22, 2024

Hilarious and Over the Top

  • Moonstrike9
  • Sep 2, 2023

Slightly uneven but good film

Teen lesbian comedy.

  • stevendbeard
  • Sep 4, 2023

Bottoms is a distinctive and well-executed film that, while not flawless, merits attention

  • kevin_robbins
  • Apr 23, 2024

I was dying Laughing it was so funny

  • moviesfilmsreviewsinc
  • Sep 6, 2023

A hilariously irreverent approach to growing up a loser

  • nicolasroop
  • Sep 3, 2023

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

  • United Artists Releasing

Summary PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) 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 w ... Read More

Directed By : Emma Seligman

Written By : Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott

Where to Watch

movie reviews bottoms

Rachel Sennott

Ayo edebiri, hazel callahan, havana rose liu, kaia gerber, nicholas galitzine, miles fowler, marshawn lynch, dagmara dominczyk, mrs. callahan, punkie johnson, zamani wilder, summer joy campbell, virginia tucker, stella-rebecca, principal meyers, toby nichols, cameron stout, ted ferguson, elizabeth newcomer, critic reviews.

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

User Reviews

Related movies, singin' in the rain, city lights, the rules of the game, some like it hot, dr. strangelove or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, american graffiti, the shop around the corner, a hard day's night, the philadelphia story, ratatouille, the lady eve, do not expect too much from the end of the world, la dolce vita, meet me in st. louis, the apartment, chimes at midnight, related news.

 width=

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Jason dietz.

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

 width=

2024-25 Movie Release Calendar

Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and 2025, updated daily.

 width=

The Worst Movies of 2024

We rank the lowest-scoring films released in 2024.

 width=

December 2024 Movie Preview

Keith kimbell.

The month ahead will bring a new Robert Eggers horror film, likely Oscar contender The Brutalist, a Lion King sequel, a Bob Dylan biopic, and more. Get details on these and all of the other notable films debuting this month.

 width=

The 15 Best Ridley Scott Movies

We rank the highest-scoring films directed by Ridley Scott from throughout his entire career.

'Bottoms' Review: Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott Are Hilarious in One of the Most Absurd Teen Comedies in Years

4

This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn't exist. Emma Seligman ’s feature debut, 2020’s Shiva Baby , was a claustrophobic, uneasy comedy that put Rachel Sennott ’s Danielle in an uncomfortable situation at a shiva, where, over an excruciating 78 minutes, we felt every bit of tension and awkwardness possible. Shiva Baby felt more like Uncut Gems than a typical comedy, as we watched Danielle’s situation go from terrible to unbearable. Seligman’s ability to build that tension for the entire film, while always making Shiva Baby both funny and cringe-inducing, was a testament to their abilities as a filmmaker, making their second feature a highly-anticipated event.

Yet Bottoms couldn’t be more unlike what Seligman did with Shiva Baby , as this second feature feels more in line with Not Another Teen Movie than a film by the Safdie brothers. But even though this is a complete 180 from what we might already expect a Seligman film to look like, Bottoms is one of the most absurd and hysterical teen comedies in years, following in the footsteps of dark teen comedy classics like Heathers , Mean Girls , and Welcome to the Dollhouse . In just two features, Seligman has proven that she can do both extremely grounded, tense humor, as well as exaggerated, over-the-top comedy, and is equally gifted at both.

'Bottoms' Is an Excellent Parody of High School Movies

2023 superstar Ayo Edebiri and Sennott (who also co-wrote Bottoms with Seligman) star as Josie and PJ, two teenage lesbians who are desperate to lose their virginity to the school’s cheerleaders. As they like to say, kids at their school don’t hate them for being gay, they hate them for being gay, untalented, and ugly. After an incident with the high school’s idiot star player, Jeff ( Red, White & Royal Blue ’s Nicholas Galitzine ), the pair decide to start a fight club at their school to get closer to the hot girls. Josie has her sights set on Isabel ( Havana Rose Liu ), who is also Jeff’s girlfriend, while PJ is interested in Brittany ( Kaia Gerber ), Isabel’s best friend, whose entire identity is that she does whatever Isabel does. Under the barely watchful eye of their teacher, Mr. G ( Marshawn Lynch ), PJ and Josie get closer and closer to losing their virginity to their crushes, even though they’re in danger of their plan coming to light.

It doesn’t take long to realize that Bottoms is an absurdist take on the typical high school comedy. On the first day of school, we hear an intercom announcement with the principal saying reading isn’t allowed this year, while Mr. G gives a test on Women Murdered in History, and the football team keeps one of their most extreme players in a cage. And however many bombs you’re expecting this movie to have, you’re probably wrong. But considering Bottoms is a film about a high school-sanctioned fight club, Seligman’s story needs to have this sort of ridiculous view, and those strange eccentricities make it so much more fun and wild than if it had played this concept straight.

Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott Prove They're Two of the Best Comedians Working Today

Bottoms is also an excellent vehicle for two of the best up-and-coming comedians today in Edebiri and Sennott. It often has the comedic tone of their previous show together, Ayo and Rachel Are Single , and the two play beautifully off each other. Their rapport is great regardless of whatever adventure Bottoms throws them into. Sennott gets to play PJ as an in-charge bullshitter who often talks before thinking, hoping everything will come together in the end. She gets to flex her acting chops here than we’re used to (again, especially compared to something like Shiva Baby , or even Bodies, Bodies Bodies ), and watching her get riled up always leads to big laughs.

Meanwhile, in a year where Edebiri has been in everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem to The Bear , Bottoms stands among her best work so far. Josie is shy, uncertain about herself, yet hopeful about the possibilities that the fight club could open for her. As we watch Josie come into her own, Edebiri finds new ways to make this character hilarious, from cautious and uncomfortable in her own skin to determined and dangerous. This has been an incredible year for Edebiri, but Bottoms might be the best presentation of her immense comedic talents so far.

'Bottoms' High School Is Packed With Funny Weirdos

Beyond the leads, Bottoms has a ridiculously fun supporting cast that helps make this ludicrous world work. Liu and Gerber are both wonderful at managing to feel like a parody of high school movie archetypes, while never falling into caricature. Even though the world that Liu lives in is heightened, her story and her journey away from her awful boyfriend never feel like it’s a joke. Galitzine is also quite funny as the moronic Jeff, who can barely function as a human being, and yet is adored by the high school at large. Bottoms pokes fun at many schools’ obsession with football, and Galitzine makes the misguided adoration for his character even more amusing. But maybe the MVP (no pun intended) of Bottoms ’ supporting cast is Lynch, who makes his every appearance stand out. While he doesn’t have much to do in Bottoms , other than to show up and steal every scene he’s in, he does so beautifully.

But amongst the inherent weirdness of Bottoms , Seligman and Sennott’s screenplay manages to make this an effective film about friendship and fighting the power. While the story is largely a parody, PJ and Josie's bond remains grounded, even when the punches and blood start flying. If there’s one thing that Shiva Baby and Bottoms have in common, it’s Seligman’s dedication to making sure that, amongst all the insanity that this brand of comedy might have, there remains a potent story of constructive growth and its lead characters discovering who they truly are.

Bottoms ensures the summer movie season ends with one of the best comedies of the year. It is a delightfully bizarre film that is always unexpected while being perfectly balanced by the two lead performances of Edebiri and Sennott. With the one-two punch of Shiva Baby and Bottoms , Seligman has already proved her brilliance both in restraint and bonkers, over-the-top comedy—and we need more comedies from her ASAP.

  • Seligman's second feature, Bottoms is a departure from the tense humor of Shiva Baby , but it proves her ability to excel in exaggerated, over-the-top comedy as well.
  • Bottoms is an absurd take on the high school comedy genre, with eccentric elements that make it more fun and wild than a straightforward approach.
  • Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott deliver outstanding comedic performances, showcasing their talent and chemistry as two of the best up-and-coming comedians today.

Bottoms comes to theaters in limited release on August 25 and opens wider on September 1.

  • Movie Reviews

Bottoms

  • Ayo Edebiri
  • Stranger Things Season 5
  • The Batman 2
  • Spider-Man 4
  • Yellowstone Season 6
  • Fallout Season 2
  • The Last of Us Season 2
  • Entertainment

Bottoms review: the best R-rated comedy of the year

Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott stand near a set of gym bleachers in Bottoms.

“Bottoms isn't just a successful sophomore outing for director Emma Seligman. It's also the best R-rated comedy of the year so far.”
  • Emma Seligman's energetic, punchy direction
  • Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri's charming lead performances
  • Ruby Cruz and Marshawn Lynch's scene-stealing supporting turns
  • Nicholas Galitzine's grating, one-note villain
  • Several lackluster second-act narrative beats

There’s a lot one can say about Bottoms , the new film from Shiva Baby director Emma Seligman, but the best thing about it is that it is completely and utterly alive . From the moment it begins, the film buzzes with a fervent creative intensity that infuses it with a zippy, light-on-its-feet energy that makes its ludicrous story deceptively easy to swallow and its many thrown punches land that much harder. The comedy is a raucous, wisely lean high school romp, one that dares to combine the satirical edge of Heathers and hard-knuckled brutality of Fight Club with the horniness and friendship-bracelet sweetness of Superbad .

The fact that it accomplishes that as well as it does is a testament to not only the quality of the film’s script, which Seligman co-wrote with star Rachel Sennott, but also the clear-eyed vision of its director. Throughout Bottoms , one can sense Seligman’s clear desire to not waste her first real opportunity within the Hollywood studio system seeping in from behind the camera. The good news is that not only has she not let her chance pass her by, but she’s delivered the best R-rated studio comedy of the year.

Bottoms takes place in a world that feels both foreign and familiar. Littered with tongue-in-cheek riffs on coming-of-age movie clichés (note all the spray-painted locker messages), its reality comes across as a skewed version of our own. Like all great big-screen farces, the film makes certain unspoken truths cartoonishly literal — namely, the overwhelming misogyny of American high school culture, which is manifested in, among other things, posters urging female students to smile more. In doing so, Bottoms gives itself the space necessary to lampoon the toxic societal flaws spotlighted throughout it.

  • 5 great comedy movies to watch on Thanksgiving
  • The best stand-up comedy on Netflix right now
  • This new slow-burn thriller features one of 2024’s best performances

By heightening its own, altered reality, Bottoms makes it easier to accept the film’s objectively ridiculous premise, which centers around two high school seniors and lifelong friends, PJ (Sennott) and Josie ( The Bear ’s Ayo Edebiri), who decide to start an all-female fight club in order to seduce their respective crushes, Isabel (a quietly luminous Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber). Their plan gets off to a surprisingly good start, thanks in no small part to the help of their unshakeable friend, Hazel (Ruby Cruz), and their recently divorced, oblivious club supervisor, Mr. G (a scene-stealing Marshawn Lynch).

When PJ and Josie’s lies about wanting to empower their fellow female students begin to pile up on them, however, the two find themselves on the verge of ending up with even less than they had at the start of the film. To make matters worse, their lives, as well as the safety of their fellow students, are thrown into absurd jeopardy by an impending game between their school’s football team, which is headed by Isabel’s adulterous boyfriend, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine), and a rival town’s. Altogether, these various threads set the stage for Bottoms to go to even more farcical and gloriously violent places in its third act than any first-time viewers will likely expect.

For some, Bottoms ’ aggressive, in-your-face sense of humor may seem more grating than laugh-inducing. As frequently funny as it is, not all of the film’s visual gags and characterizations land with as much force as others (Galitzine’s one-note performance quickly wears thin). While Seligman and her cast manage to successfully tap into the same angsty teen horniness as many of Bottoms ‘ influences, the sweetness of its leads’ friendship isn’t as effectively communicated or explored. Its story’s inevitable, emotionally low beats, consequently, all land with a collective thud.

Behind the camera, Seligman partly makes up for the falseness of some of Bottoms ’ more dramatic beats by dropping a Gen Z-targeted needle drop that is more effective than it has any right to be. On-screen, though, it’s ultimately Sennott and Edebiri who make PJ and Josie even remotely tolerable. Sennott’s brash, mile-a-minute energy proves to be a perfect counter to her co-star’s awkward, purposefully stilted comedic timing. Together, the two actresses manage to match the energy and charisma of Seligman’s direction. Opposite them, Lynch and Cruz both emerge as standouts, with the former earning some of the film’s biggest laughs and the latter proving to be the closest thing it has to a real heart and soul.

Above all else, Bottoms ’ cast members seem game to try and do just about anything. They throw themselves into the film’s violent fights and goofy gags with equal amounts of reckless abandon — making Bottoms ’ narrative juxtaposition of its characters’ sexual desires and shared bloodlust genuinely, viscerally affecting. Had the movie been made at any other time, it might not have been as successful. It simply benefits too much from the youthful energy of its creators, all of whom seem intent on cementing themselves as artists whose voices deserve to not only be heard, but amplified.

In that way, Bottoms is a high school movie through and through. The film overflows with relatable, if juvenile, shades of confidence and ambition. It, like its characters and every teenager ever, wants to prove itself, and while its subjects may be a pair of high school losers, Bottoms is no sophomore slump. Instead, it’s the second half of a sentence that began when Shiva Baby was released two years ago — one that transforms the unspoken promise of potential offered by that film into a statement of fact. Put that another way: Emma Seligman hasn’t just arrived. She’s here to stay.

Bottoms is now playing in select theaters. It expands nationwide on Friday, September 1.

Editors’ Recommendations

  • 3 comedies on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in December 2024
  • The best romantic comedies on Netflix right now
  • 10 best dark comedy movies of all time, ranked
  • The best stand-up comedy on Amazon Prime right now
  • The best comedies on Netflix right now
  • Product Reviews

Alex Welch

It makes sense that the 1989 film Parenthood was eventually adapted for television, and that the show became such a remarkable success. The movie's premise is remarkably simple: What if you were a parent just trying to make ends meet? What allowed the show to really work, though, was first unlocked by the movie. Both have a remarkably sentimental, saccharine quality that, when all is said and done, feels fairly profound.

Thirty-five years later, Parenthood should feel like a relic of an era when families were more "traditional," a tribute to a kind of American life that maybe never really existed. Instead, though, the movie plays like a lovely tribute to the mundanity and profundity of being a parent. It's something that many people do, but will change your life whether you want it to or not.

Dying is easy; comedy is hard, or at least that's how the old adage goes. The genre requires remarkable wit and self-awareness to both write and perform, which is why so many comedy movies fail to entertain, let alone humor. Those that do are often full of clever and memorable jabs, largely because they understand exactly what they're doing and, just as importantly, who they're doing it for.

So far, 2024 has produced several comedies, although only a few have truly stood out. It has been a notoriously tough year for original movies, which comedies often tend to be, but we can always count on a reliable few to keep us laughing. From absurdist black comedies from the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos to action rom-coms from auteurs like Richard Linklater, these are the best comedy movies of 2024 so far. 5. The Ministry of Ungenltemanly Warfare

It's not a stretch to say that 2023 was a pretty great year for movies. Between successes like Oppenheimer and Barbie, acclaimed darlings like Poor Things and Anatomy of a Fall, and unexpected hits like Godzilla Minus One and Anyone but You, the film industry thrived last year. However, as usually happens, more than a few films earned far more acclaim than they should have, at least in this writer's opinion. I've written already about my dislike for Emerald Fennell's Saltburn, but that was a divisive film that had far more detractors than just me. On the contrary, Emma Seligman's teen comedy Bottoms received near-universal acclaim, and I can't, for the life of me, understand why.

Bottoms isn't necessarily bad, strictly speaking; it's not a true abomination like, say, Ghosted or The Flash. However, it's also not the teen triumph it was anointed to be by most critics and the internet. Instead, it's a rather average movie that is not nearly as subversive or clever as it pretends to be. In fact, compared to other entries in the raunchy teen genre, it's painfully mediocre, and the more praise it got, the more I disliked it. And while "hate" might be a strong word, especially when talking about a movie, it's a pretty succinct, if slightly exaggerated, way to describe my feelings towards Bottoms. What is it exactly that we're looking at here?

an image, when javascript is unavailable

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘bottoms’ review: emma seligman’s ‘shiva baby’ follow-up is acerbic, airy and less subversive than it thinks.

Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri play two girls trying to lose their virginity before graduation in Seligman's sophomore feature.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share to Flipboard
  • Send an Email
  • Show additional share options
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Whats App
  • Print the Article
  • Post a Comment

(L-R) Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri in 'Bottoms' film still

Related Stories

How amazon mgm studios marketing chief sue kroll became a loewe model in buzzy campaign, 'saturday night' star rachel sennott embraces the chaos in her work.

Bottoms is mostly air, and that weightlessness leaves us grasping for more from its characters and their story. Seligman and co-writer/star Sennott set out to make a still-rare kind of film: a queer teen comedy where the characters aren’t plagued by trauma, defined by coming out or condescended-to with pat romance. PJ (Sennott) and Josie ( Ayo Edebiri ) are two uncool seniors with one goal: getting laid before the end of the year. Their quest is a familiar one: Bottoms inherits its broad strokes from mostly white-cishet-masculine cult classics like Superbad and American Pie . But Seligman and Sennott subvert the genre tropes and liberate their queer protagonists from respectability and representation. PJ and Josie aren’t losers because they’re gay; they’re losers because they’re untalented and unlikeable.

Bottoms ’ action starts with a fib turned legend. Miscommunication at the school fair leads the entire school to believe that Josie and PJ spent their summer in juvenile detention. And rumor has it they even killed someone. Never mind that the two girls have never been in a fight or even thrown a punch. The violent lore ups the duo’s credibility and grants them a previously unknown kind of respect.

Realizing they can capitalize on this newfound relevance, PJ and Josie start a woman’s fight club at school. They hope it will attract the attention and adoration of their respective crushes, Brittany ( Kaia Gerber ) and Isabel (Havan Rose Liu). So Josie and PJ sell the group — to their cofounder Hazel (Ruby Cruz) and faculty advisor Mr. G (a scene stealing Marshawn Lynch) — as a self-defense club undergirded by feminist values. This, they tell new recruits, is about helping women feel empowered, supported and safe.

No place are the film’s transgressive goals more apparent (and their realization shakier) than in the screenplay, chock full of jokes, ironic quips, asides and the occasional stale analysis of the very online. Everyone is the punchline in Bottoms , which indiscriminately jabs but pays special attention to the contradictions of a particular strain of white feminism. Some of the jokes land gloriously, while others fall disastrously apart. In that latter category, a throwaway line about late scholar bell hooks clarifies why the film left me feeling empty. “Who is bell hooks and why should we care?” one character says during a study session turned flirtation.

I thought about hooks’ writings on the limitations of Beyoncé’s Lemonade as feminist art. She points out the “fantasy feminism” of the album and the false construction of a simplified worldview, in which women gaining the freedom to be like men can be seen as powerful. Although the scholar was speaking specifically about the relationship between Black women, men and rage, there are applicable lessons here. Bottoms starts as subversion, mocking the ideas most often attributed to feminist “girlbosses.” A woman’s fight club is a hollow symbol in a homophobic and patriarchal world. In Bottoms , it’s a winking acknowledgement of how feminism can be manipulated and misappropriated. But the film never offers us a version of genuine solidarity that we can believe in its place. 

The jokes keep coming, but without a meaningful foundation — fleshing out the motivations of the group’s members would have helped — they start to wear thin. The film seems to recognize this, as it quietly submits to the things it initially mocked, burrowing into a sentimentalism I thought it was too smart to believe in.

Full credits

Thr newsletters.

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘the wild robot’ leads annie awards nominations with 10 nods, can ‘wicked’ follow in these blockbusters’ best-picture footsteps, dakota johnson and josh hartnett join anne hathaway in adaptation of colleen hoover’s ‘verity’, paul rudd, jack black’s ‘anaconda’ comedy lands 2025 holiday release, ‘the mummy’ being written and directed by ‘evil dead rise’ filmmaker lee cronin (exclusive), the weeknd’s ‘hurry up tomorrow’ movie set for spring 2025 release.

Quantcast

IMAGES

  1. Bottoms

    movie reviews bottoms

  2. Where to Watch & Stream 'Bottoms'

    movie reviews bottoms

  3. Bottoms review: A coming-of-age movie for the internet brain generation

    movie reviews bottoms

  4. Bottoms

    movie reviews bottoms

  5. "Bottoms" Poster

    movie reviews bottoms

  6. Bottoms

    movie reviews bottoms

COMMENTS

  1. Bottoms - Rotten Tomatoes

    BOTTOMS, a refreshingly unique raunchy comedy, focuses on two girls, PJ and Josie, who start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. Their bizarre plan works. The fight ...

  2. Bottoms movie review & film summary (2023) - Roger Ebert

    Aug 24, 2023 · After her impressive feature debut, “Shiva Baby,” director Emma Seligman reconnects with Rachel Sennott for an unhinged comedy like few others. “Bottoms” follows a pair of lesbian best friends, PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), as they accidentally stumble into a plan that can make them both popular at their high school and win over their crushes, the statuesque Brittany (Kaia ...

  3. Bottoms review: The teen comedy is weird, horny, and dark - NPR

    Aug 22, 2023 · Bottoms review: The teen comedy is weird, horny, and dark The cheeky black comedy stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri as teens who start a fight club to get laid. Pop Culture Happy Hour

  4. Bottoms - Movie Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes

    Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets ... Bottoms is that film you ...

  5. ‘Bottoms’ Review: Physical Education - The New York Times

    Aug 24, 2023 · Bottoms. Rated R for typical teen language, fight-club violence and football run amok. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. In theaters. Bottoms. Find Tickets.

  6. Bottoms (2023) - User reviews - IMDb

    "Bottoms" premiered at the SXSW Festival in March, and was rolled out nationwide in theaters this Labor Day weekend. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at my local arthouse theater here in Cincinnati was attended okay (about 10 people). For what it's worth, "Bottoms" is currently rated 95% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

  7. Bottoms Reviews - Metacritic

    Aug 25, 2023 · Bottoms is a fresh idea, and would have worked with a funnier script. 6/10. Read More Report. 3. KingGoonie1217 Aug 16, 2024 Wow this is just a really bad movie. The ...

  8. 'Bottoms' Review: Ayo Edebiri & Rachel Sennott Are Hilarious ...

    Aug 24, 2023 · Bottoms ensures the summer movie season ends with one of the best comedies of the year. It is a delightfully bizarre film that is always unexpected while being perfectly balanced by the two lead ...

  9. Bottoms review: the best R-rated comedy of the year

    Sep 1, 2023 · Bottoms takes place in a world that feels both foreign and familiar. Littered with tongue-in-cheek riffs on coming-of-age movie clichés (note all the spray-painted locker messages), its reality ...

  10. 'Bottoms' Review: Rachel Sennott & Ayo Edebiri in Teen ...

    Mar 12, 2023 · Bottoms’ Review: Emma Seligman’s ‘Shiva Baby’ Follow-Up Is Acerbic, Airy and Less Subversive Than It Thinks. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri play two girls trying to lose their virginity ...