Luis Laboy, Grade 12, Staff Writer
Bottoms is a 2023 raunchy comedy movie about a group of queer girls who, after an altercation with a football player, make a female self-defense club to cover up the misunderstanding.
The film stars Rachel Sennott, the star of the 2020 drama, Shiva Baby. Sennott stars alongside Ayo Edebiri as the main characters of the film, who share a touching friendship. The chemistry between Sennott and Edebiri and the other actresses portraying the girls in the self-defense group is beautifully conveyed. The viewers see shy, awkward high schoolers go from strangers to opening up and befriending each other.
The club, initially created to cover up for the two main characters, focuses less on the physical aspects of self-defense, and more on the mental aspects. The characters open up about their feelings and their insecurities as young women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Bottoms allows its characters to exist beyond stereotypes. “Bottoms didn't kill their gays, nor did they use them as a pawn to make queer stories worthy of praise,” former HSAS student, Melissa Jovel-Rivera stated.
The film garnered a positive reception from critics and audiences. Audience reviews on the film express that the film was very heartwarming and empowering for them. The movie received a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, even temporarily being a part of Letterboxd’s Top 250 Narrative Feature Films for a few weeks.
The movie’s expression of the characters is genuine to those who have experienced the same issues in life. The movie dealt with subjects of queer women and their emotions, that are not in many movies.
Opposed to the heteronormative nature of most films, "what they made was a movie for gay kids who crave being seen as much as the straight, hormonal kid sitting next to them."
The movie has a unique take on the usage of antagonists, who, in Bottoms, are stereotypical football players. Throughout the movie, there are many instances where the actions of the football players go above and beyond what is normal in real life. The absurd behavior of the antagonists not only causes us as the audience to dislike them more but also gives us hilarious absurdist humor.
Bottoms should be enjoyed among friends, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community. Bottoms’ unique comedic style allows the audience to have a good laugh while providing recognition of the real-life situations reflected in the movie.
Bottoms Movie
Comments