Though I am no movie buff, Bottoms, directed by Emma Seligman, is a movie that I can confidently say everyone has to see at least once. Starring Rachel Sennott (PJ) and Ayo Edebiri (Josie), the film follows two “ugly, untalented gays” as they start a fight to up their social status. The best friends navigate taboos ranging from virginity to high school bullying, though their friendship itself isn’t all smooth sailing. Funny, heartwarming, and provocative, Bottoms is undoubtedly one of my favorite films of the year.
Characters Josie and Hazel stole my heart from the very beginning. Maybe it’s because I am a chronic people-pleaser myself, but I can’t help but sympathize with the two as they get pushed around by PJ. Regardless of circumstance, both girls are compassionate and care about their friends, even when they get caught up in the occasional lie. The audience sees the pair grow throughout the film as Josie becomes more confident in herself and her social abilities and Hazel realizes how valuable she truly is.
Though many of the characters are likable and easy to sympathize with, others definitely rub me the wrong way. PJ starts off as funny and relatable, while she and Josie attempt to talk to their crushes and fail. However, as PJ continued to manipulate her friends, my opinion of her started to change. She continually fails to take accountability for her actions and, as a result, hurts the people around her. I found the portrayal of PJ as the heroine particularly problematic as she has a narrow character arc, ending the film in essentially the same place she had started. PJ was a little full of herself and clearly in way over her head, but — in all fairness — she’s just a teenager dealing with the struggles of high school romance, friendship, and stereotypes. Although this is not to say that Rachel Sennott didn’t play her part well; PJ’s less palatable traits exist to force us to think critically as an audience.
It’s clear that the crew put immense effort into the details behind each character. The costumes throughout the film were well thought out and each character had a style that was utterly unique to them. The styles ranged from Josie’s rugby-inspired looks to Hazel’s Breakfast Club era outfits, and even to Isabelle’s staple soft-girl wardrobe. I particularly enjoyed how the identities of the football players, the typical stars of teen movies, were reduced with their limited wardrobe of team uniforms. This choice was a playful reversal of typical coming-of-age story tropes and overall worked well for the plot. Each character ultimately stands out as authentically themself because of the thoughtful costume design.
Producers clearly thought about their characters’ appearances, but there was also heart and soul put into the script to make it relatable and realistic. I’m sure we can all attest that high school is long and tiring, but having a crush that you know you’ll pass in the hallway can make it exciting. Your friends judge you for staring too long or for telling them that you made eye contact today as if you could really be head over heels for someone you only talk to when they ask what the homework was. Bottoms manages to capture just that.
The satiric approach the film took on teen love is appreciated, especially being that it is all too often that queer romance is hypersexualized by the media. Sapphic relationships are frequently written in a way that fetishizes lesbians in order to appeal to the male gaze. The film combats this by tastefully poking fun at societal norms and harmful stigmas in a way that other films simply can’t recreate. Awkward and often uncomfortable to watch, Bottoms is a more realistic representation of teenage relationship oddities. This is clearly “must-see movie of the year” material if you like to laugh so hard you cry; reminiscent of an early 2000s comedy movie, I can guarantee that Bottoms will never get old.