Time: 91 Minutes
Cast:
Rachel Sennott as PJ
Ayo Edebiri as Josie
Ruby Cruz as Hazel Callahan
Havana Rose Liu as Isabel
Kaia Gerber as Brittany
Nicholas Galitzine as Jeff
Miles Fowler as Tim
Marshawn Lynch as Mr. G
Dagmara Domińczyk as Mrs. Callahan
Director: Emma Seligman

Bottoms was one of the most popular movies from last year, so I decided to check it out. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, I hadn’t seen writer/director’s Emma Seligman’s last film, Shiva Baby. But from the things I heard about it, I had a creeping feeling that it wouldn’t be for me. I was right, though I liked it more than I was expecting to.

The writing is energetic, and the movie is very much in line with campy 80s teens movies, with all the high school comedy cliches on display. The thing about Bottoms is whether or not you like the movie all depends on whether you find it to be funny, because it doesn’t have much else to offer outside of the comedy. Unfortunately, I just didn’t find it to be that funny. Most of the jokes don’t land at all, not helped by how many of them are stretched out for far too long. The best way I can describe the humor is that it’s like a failed sketch comedy which is trying very hard, but only ends up being mildly funny at best. Not to damn with fine praise, but even though I didn’t find it particularly funny, it is watchable, and I didn’t find it that annoying either. I also found the relative amount of meanness to be rather refreshing. Plot wise and thematically, it is very messy and feels loosely strung together. It feels like a mish mash of different ideas, like a sketch comedy converted into a movie funnily enough. The narrative was difficult to engage with, so I couldn’t even enjoy it from that angle, not helped by the awkward pacing. There’s not much on a thematic level either, any jokes that seem to resemble social commentary are so on the nose and don’t end up saying anything. This doesn’t bother me, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, unless they were actually trying to say something here. You’ll immediately notice from the beginning how over the top it is, some characters downright acting like cartoon characters. There is a level of absurdism and surreality which I was liking, but unfortunately, Bottoms doesn’t commit to it as much as I would’ve liked, outside of the third act.

I do think that most of the performances are solid. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri are in the lead roles, and they bounce off each other quite well, Edebiri is particularly good. The rest of the cast deliver too, and Ruby Cruz and Marshawn Lynch are standouts.

This is the first movie I’ve seen from Emma Seligman and it is directed reasonably well. Most of it is just competently made and doesn’t have a lot of style to it. It does however have some good music choices, and the third act does have some interesting choices that stand out (at least compared to the rest of the movie).

Bottoms is watchable, it has some good performances, and the occasional absurdism is enjoyable. However, the writing is a real mixed bag, and it doesn’t really land much of the humour. That said, I am fully aware that I’m in the minority of people who didn’t like this movie, so take that for what it’s worth.