This year has seen an uptick in mainstream LGBTQIA+ films. The summer began with a second season of Good Omens, a mythical love story. Next, season two of Netflix’s Heartstopper, based on a series of young adult graphic novels, premiered on August 3rd. Days later, Prime Video released Red, White & Royal Blue based on a book in which the first son of the United States and a young British prince fall in love. All of these pieces of media have one thing in common — they feature men. It’s about time that queer people have a film with queer women, and director Emma Seligman (known for her 2020 film Shiva Baby) delivers with her new comedic film Bottoms. Bottoms is a film that finally focuses on queer women instead of the endless (albeit important) films featuring queer men.
On August 25th, Bottoms premiered in movie theaters across the United States and Canada. The film follows lesbian best friends PJ (Rachel Sennot) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), who are struggling to get their crushes to notice them. After accidentally hitting quarterback Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine) with Josie’s car, the girls are suddenly inspired to create a fight club in order to impress their crushes. As the club picks up traction, PJ and Josie set off a truly bizarre chain of events by lying through their teeth about serving time in juvenile detention, where they supposedly did everything from fighting girls for money to punching people until they die.
Bottoms was set to be a blockbuster hit from the beginning. With a budget of $11.3 million, the film grossed $1.3 million by its first weekend. Bottoms boasts a score of 93% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, as well as a 90% Audience Score. These scores will likely increase due to the film’s release on Prime Video in November, on which it is available for purchase. We can count on queer women and nonbinary people to keep this film on the charts, as it is so rare that a queer film featuring women gets this much publicity.
The film’s success can be attributed at least in part to Galitzine’s appearance. The actor recently starred in Red, White & Royal Blue and Purple Hearts on Netflix. Although Galitzine’s involvement undoubtedly incentivizes audiences to watch the film, its actresses are the ones who make the movie. Ruby Cruz of Disney Plus’ Willow shines as Hazel, a girl who JP and Josie reluctantly team up with to run their fight club. Dickinson and The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri is excellent as Josie, an awkward, anxious lesbian who struggles to flirt with Isabel (Havanna Rose Liu), her popular cheerleader crush.
Bottoms is hilarious to the point of absurdity. The dialogue is blunt and unrestrained; characters regularly talk about sex and violence with no fear. The girls’ teacher, Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch) refuses to teach his class, even writing “Why every president has been a man and why it should stay that way” on the whiteboard. The events in the movie are intentionally hilarious– Hazel blows up Jeff’s car, Josie and JP claim that they were juvenile delinquents, and the final scene of the movie shows the members of the fight club murdering players of the opposing football team.
One of the many things to love about Bottoms is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The film uses satire to criticize high school movie tropes without seeming forced. Jeff is a dumb quarterback, Isabel and Brittany are the popular girls, and the football players are obsessed with football to an extreme degree. Beyond the characters, the movie plays on other aspects of how high schools are portrayed in the media. Jeff and Isabel’s tumultuous relationship takes center stage. Isabel stays with Jeff despite his unfaithful, misogynistic behavior, and she eventually breaks up with him. The classes are five minutes long. People write obscene insults on lockers.
While the movie adheres to high school movie tropes, it also subverts them. To start, girls are the focus of the film. Although they can be mean to each other, like in any high school movie, they support and communicate with one another. We see genuine friendships form under JP and Josie’s leadership. There is also much to love about the subversion of other tropes, too. The women in the film are unapologetically queer and don’t fight over the same man for the entirety of the 88-minute run time.
With its humor, self-awareness, and social commentary, Bottoms is the queer film of the year, and definitely one you won’t want to miss.