Whenever someone asks me to name an underrated gem from the pandemic era of films, one of the first ones to pop into my mind is Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby. Seligman’s debut feature film is a horror movie for those with social anxiety, a short foray into an awkward Jewish funeral/family reunion that goes wrong in every possible way. The movie is a hell of a debut, and introduced the world to lead Rachel Sennott, who has since impressed in every single project she has starred in. This brings us to Seligman’s second film BOTTOMS, an R-rated high school comedy that also stars Sennott and adds rising star from Hulu’s The Bear Ayo Edebiri. This sophomore feature proves to the world that Seligman is here to stay as a comedy filmmaker, and has hilarious and interesting ideas to add to the world of independent film. BOTTOMS is absurd, incomprehensibly funny, and makes less sense as the movie progresses, yet it manages to somehow top the amazing Shiva Baby, becoming the rip-roaring social satire that 2023 needs.
The movie begins by showing high school friends PJ (Sennott) and Josie (Edebiri) preparing for a state fair in which they expect to see their crushes — Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber), both of whom are popular cheerleaders. From the very first scene, viewers are bombarded with snappy dialogue and shown the electric onscreen chemistry between Edebiri and Sennott that pervades throughout the film. The dialogue between PJ, Josie, and all of the other characters of the principal cast feels like actual words spoken between outgoing and awkward friends, giving an improvised feel to the events of the plot. The humor in BOTTOMS never misses and, given almost every second is chock-full of absurdity, results in an incredible accomplishment from Seligman and the cast. This is one of the few comedies of recent years that even has jokes set up in the background of shots at times, recalling the golden days of films like Airplane! and The Naked Gun.
When PJ and Josie arrive at the fair, to nobody’s surprise, they embarrass themselves with an extremely awkward encounter with their crushes. They leave in defeat, but end up accidentally witnessing a heated argument between Isabel and her dim-witted jock boyfriend Jeff (a hilarious Nicholas Galitzine, fresh off the success of Red, White & Royal Blue). Isabel hops in their car to get away from Jeff, and on the way out they “run over his leg and injure him” (yes, that phrase requires quotation marks). This starts a schoolwide beef between the stuck-up male jocks and the women who want to be independent, which escalates into fights, romance and acts of domestic terrorism (not an exaggeration). BOTTOMS becomes progressively more unhinged as it goes, a characteristic which makes it one of the more unpredictable and reactionary viewing experiences of 2023. Multiple scenes had me attempting to comprehend what I just watched, but laughing hysterically while trying to understand.
The basic plot of the remainder of the film involves PJ and Josie creating a David Fincher-like fight club so the girls can defend themselves against predatory men — a pursuit which seems empowering and proactive, but is really just a ploy to have sex with their crushes. Watching the two nerds pretend to be juvie-hardened fighters and lead a group of girls who have no idea what they’re doing against some of the dumbest jocks in recent film history proves to be a truly hilarious experience that I never wanted to end. Galitzine as Jeff is one of the best male comedic performances of the year, rivaling Gosling’s Ken in Barbie with how stupid, charismatic and physically committed he is throughout. Another total wild card in this cast is football star Marshawn Lynch as Mr. G, a clueless teacher going through a divorce who agrees to sponsor the fight club so he can be a female ally. Supposedly all of Lynch’s dialogue was improvised in some form, which isn’t at all surprising given some of the nonsensical, ridiculous monologues that he delivers. Either way, the full cast here brings their A-game with fantastic chemistry all around, making the average viewer wish they could be a fly on the wall in the film set.
If Seligman continues to create movies as original, funny and oddly anxiety-inducing as BOTTOMS and Shiva Baby, then she is in for a fruitful and long career. Comedy is often the most difficult genre to perfect due to the subjectivity of jokes, yet Seligman already feels like a seasoned master of the genre despite this being her second film. Sennott and Seligman wrote BOTTOMS together, and I think I speak for most avid filmgoers when I say that I hope this is far from the last time we see both of their names on the same project. BOTTOMS is 2023’s comedy of the year so far, and it will take a truly gut-busting film to even get close to topping it.
A+
Thoughts on Current Films 