Bottoms (film)

Bottoms is a 2023 American satirical teen sex comedy film directed by Emma Seligman, from a screenplay she co-wrote with Rachel Sennott.[6][7][8][9][10][11] The film stars Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz (in her feature film debut), Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Miles Fowler, Dagmara Domińczyk, and Marshawn Lynch. Its plot follows two high school senior girls who set up a fight club as a way to hook up with cheerleaders.

Bottoms
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEmma Seligman
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMaria Rusche
Edited byHanna Park
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • March 11, 2023 (2023-03-11) (SXSW)
  • August 25, 2023 (2023-08-25) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$11.3 million[3]
Box office$12 million[4][5]

Bottoms premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2023, and was released in the United States on August 25, 2023, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

PJ and Josie are unpopular lesbian best friends at Rockbridge Falls High School who have never had sex. Josie and PJ pine for popular cheerleaders Isabel and Brittany, respectively. At the beginning of their school year, PJ and Josie, joined by their friend Hazel, attend the local fair, where they witness Isabel and her boyfriend Jeff, the quarterback of the Rockbridge Falls Vikings, having an argument. Isabel gets into PJ and Josie's car, and they softly bump Jeff's knees when he refuses to move out of the way. Jeff falls to the ground, feigning severe injury.

When school starts, rumors spread that PJ and Josie were in juvenile detention over the summer and that the girls had physically fought Jeff. When Principal Meyers threatens them with expulsion, Josie lies that they were simply practicing for a feminist "self-defense club". PJ and Josie decide to actually set up the self-defense club in the name of female empowerment with Hazel's help, though they secretly want to use it to get attractive girls to have sex with them. They ask Mr. G, a careless teacher currently going through a divorce, to be their advisor.

The club grows closer through their chaotic and violent practice, while PJ and Josie continue their lie about attending juvie. Hazel discovers that her mother is having an affair with Jeff. Josie tells Isabel, and Isabel breaks up with Jeff in front of the student body in the cafeteria. The club decide to vandalize Jeff's house with eggs and toilet paper, though Hazel builds a bomb that blows up his car. Faced with the club's disbandment, PJ and Hazel bicker, and PJ humiliates Hazel for being a loner. The following evening, Josie invites Isabel to her room, where they have sex. Meanwhile, PJ kisses Brittany, but Brittany informs her that she is straight.

At the pep rally for the upcoming football game against longtime rival Huntington High School, Tim, a Vikings player, calls on Hazel to represent the club by fighting a boxer in combat. Hazel is severely injured and Tim reveals the lies behind PJ and Josie's "fight club" and time in juvie, publicly humiliating them in retaliation for opposing the football team. PJ and Josie argue over who was responsible for the club and fall out, and the two are ostracized at school.

Josie seeks advice from her childhood babysitter Rhodes, who reveals that per tradition, Huntington intends to kill a Rockbridge football player at the upcoming game. Hoping to prevent this, PJ and Josie rekindle their friendship, and then make up with Hazel and the rest of the girls in the club, though they are unable to recruit Isabel and Brittany. They realize Huntington High has tied several large barrels of pineapple juice into the football field's sprinkler system to cause a deadly allergic reaction for Jeff.

After a bomb attached to a tree fails, PJ and Hazel divert everyone's attention by publicly making out. Upon the arrival of Huntington High's team, Isabel and Brittany rejoin the club and a brutal, bloody brawl ensues between the players and the fight club. The girls kill much of the team and render the rest unconscious, ending with Rockbridge's victory via forfeit. The club is celebrated for saving Jeff. Josie and Isabel embrace with a kiss. The tree bomb finally explodes, interrupting the celebration.

Cast

Production

In April 2021, it was announced that Seligman and Sennott were working with Orion Pictures and Brownstone Productions, with Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, and Alison Small producing for Brownstone, and Alana Mayo producing for Orion. It is the third collaboration between Seligman and Sennott after the 2018 short film Shiva Baby and her 2020 feature-length adaptation.[12] Whilst promoting that film, Seligman described her next project as a "campy queer high school comedy in the vein of Wet Hot American Summer but more for a Gen-Z queer audience".[13]

In April 2022, it was announced that Ayo Edebiri, Marshawn Lynch, Ruby Cruz, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Miles Fowler, Dagmara Domińczyk and Punkie Johnson were added to the cast.[14][15] Filming was scheduled to take place in New Orleans between April 18 and May 27, 2022.[16] Seligman has said that she cast Marshawn Lynch at the suggestion of Mayo, who pointed her to his appearance on the Netflix series Murderville, the majority of which he had improvised.[17] On September 12, 2022, it was confirmed by The New York Times that filming had wrapped. Sennott described the film as, "Two girls in a classic American football town who start a fight club under the guise of female empowerment, but it's actually so they can have sex with cheerleaders".[18]

Seligman faced significant difficulties during the processes of pitching, shooting and editing Bottoms, the bulk of which were due to the potentially alienating nature of the film's overtly sexual, lesbian premise. She and Sennott received a number of rejections while introducing the concept to various studios, and often were not even permitted to properly pitch their idea to executives. Additionally, several companies declined to feature their products in the film due to its supposedly "offensive" content. Once their project was accepted by Orion, they were nearly unable to find high school campuses in New Orleans that were willing to lend their space; Seligman had to resort to shooting mostly in an abandoned elementary school and a college gymnasium. The initial drafts of the script included scenes of PJ and Josie being sent to a "militaristic boot camp" for "horny girls", where Punkie Johnson's character would've been introduced as head of the camp; however, these scenes were removed due to poor reception at test screenings.[19][20]

Eunice Jera Lee served as costume designer on the film. She took inspiration from Grease (1978), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Heathers (1988), Jawbreaker (1999), and Bring It On (2000).[21]

Music
Main article: Bottoms (soundtrack)

The original film score for Bottoms was composed by Charli XCX and Leo Birenberg. In addition, the film features songs such as "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne, "Pain" by King Princess, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, and "Party 4 U" by Charli XCX.[22]

Release

Bottoms premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2023.[23] The film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 25, 2023, before expanding to additional screens on September 1, 2023. It was also released theatrically in Canada on the same day.[24] The film was released in the US and Canada on Amazon Prime Video on September 22.[25]

Warner Bros. Pictures is set to release the film in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland on November 3, 2023.[26]

Reception

Box office

As of October 13, 2023, Bottoms has grossed $12 million in the United States and Canada.[4][5]

The film opened in limited release at ten theaters in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin, grossing $461,052 in its opening weekend, making for a per-theater average of $46,105.[27] This was the highest per-screen average on ten or more screens since Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).[28][29] The film expanded to 715 theaters in its second weekend, making $3 million, and a total of $3.58 million over the four-day Labor Day frame.[30]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 172 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Propulsive and over-the-top, Bottoms is an instant high school comedy classic that feels both current and nostalgic."[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[32] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 93% positive score, with women under 25 giving it 98% score and 96% saying they would definitely recommend it.[33]

Reviewing the film for Variety, following its premiere at South by Southwest, Owen Gleiberman commended the direction and screenplay (particularly its characters and humor), stating: "Bottoms is unlike any high-school comedy you've ever seen. It's a satire of victimization, a satire of violence, and a satire of itself. It walks a tightrope between sensitivity and insanity (with a knowing bit of inanity), and it's full of moments that are defiantly what we once used to call incorrect".[34] Valerie Complex of Deadline Hollywood admired the lead performances and Seligman's direction, but found some faults with the screenplay, ultimately concluding: "Bottoms is fun, but with some slight tweaks this could have been an epic exploration of the gray areas of queerness and what it means to stand in the center of that as an adolescent".[35] Referring to the film as the "horniest, bloodiest high school movie of the 21st century" in a highly enthusiastic review for Rolling Stone, David Fear lauded every aspect of the film, including its direction, screenplay and cast performances.[36]

References
  1. "Leo Birenberg & Charli XCX Scoring Emma Seligman's 'Bottoms'". Film Music Reporter. March 10, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  2. "Bottoms (15)". BBFC. October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  3. Goldsmith, Jill (September 3, 2023). "Talk To Me Tops Hereditary As A24's Highest-Grossing Horror; Bottoms Nails Nationwide Expansion – Specialty Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  4. "Bottoms (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  5. "Bottoms". The Numbers. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  6. McCormack, Olivia (August 28, 2023). "Review | 'Bottoms': Campy tale of high school losers comes out on top". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  7. Kodama, Kevin (September 4, 2023). "Bottoms Has a Deeper Meaning, And Most Fans Missed It". MovieWeb. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  8. Giorgis, Hannah (August 25, 2023). "The Raunchy Teen Comedy Gets a Queer Twist". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  9. Truitt, Brian (August 31, 2023). "'Bottoms' review: Broken noses and bloodshed mark this refreshingly unhinged teen comedy". USA Today. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  10. Bahr, Lindsey (August 22, 2023). "Behind 'Bottoms,' the wild, queer and bloody high school sex comedy coming to theaters". AP News. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  11. Radulovic, Petrana (August 31, 2023). "Bottoms mocks retro raunchy high school sex comedies — but it still is one". Polygon. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  12. Galuppo, Mia (April 6, 2021). "Shiva Baby' Team Sets Comedy 'Bottoms' With Orion Pictures, Brownstone Productions". The Hollywood Reporter.
  13. Shiva Baby Q&A: #BJFF2020 Conversation with director Emma Seligman. Boston Jewish Film. November 18, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2022 – via YouTube.: 39:07–39:45 
  14. Kay, Jeremy (April 11, 2022). "'Shiva Baby' director Emma Seligman lines up cast on Orion Pictures sex comedy". Screen Daily.
  15. Militano, Hannah (April 14, 2022). "Kaia Gerber Lands Next Acting Role in Upcoming Film 'Bottoms'". Grazia.
  16. "Productions". Film New Orleans. Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  17. "FL47 BOTTOMS Q&A", Frameline, June 17, 2023, retrieved October 16, 2023
  18. Conway, Megan (September 12, 2022). "Rachel Sennott Just Wants You to Have the Time of Your Life". New York Times.
  19. "BOTTOMS filmmaker EMMA SELIGMAN - Q&A | Film Independent Presents", Film Independent, August 31, 2023, retrieved October 16, 2023
  20. Valdez, Ysenia (August 21, 2023). "Emma Seligman Rolls With the Punches". W Magazine. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  21. Peng, Elizabeth (March 31, 2023). "Bottoms Asks the Question: 'What Do You Wear to a Queer Fight Club?'". Vogue. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  22. Peters, Fletcher (August 29, 2023). "The Best 'Bottoms' Needle Drop Taps Right Into Y2K Nostalgia". The Daily Beast.
  23. "2023 SXSW Film Festival Lineup". South by Southwest. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  24. Bottoms [@bottomsmovie] (June 5, 2023). "high school is gonna leave a mark. trailer tomorrow!! #BottomsMovie in select theaters August 25 + additional cities September 1" (Tweet). Retrieved June 6, 2023 – via Twitter.
  25. Bottoms [@bottomsmovie] (August 25, 2023). "hiii #BottomsMovie is coming internationally to Prime Video. More details to come soon!!" (Tweet). Retrieved September 3, 2023 – via Twitter.
  26. "Warner Bros to release Emma Seligman's Bottoms in UK & Ireland cinemas in November (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  27. "Domestic 2023 Weekend 34". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  28. Goldsmith, Jill (August 27, 2023). "'Bottoms' Is Tops For MGM As Raunchy Teen Comedy Sees $500k Opening In Limited Release – Specialty Box Office". Deadline Hollywood.
  29. Lang, Brent (August 27, 2023). "Box Office: 'Gran Turismo' Narrowly Outraces 'Barbie' With Middling $17.3 Million". Variety.
  30. D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 3, 2023). "'Equalizer 3' Notches Second-Best Opening Ever At Labor Day Box Office With $42M; Summer Clicks Past $4 Billion". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  31. "Bottoms". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  32. "Bottoms". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  33. D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 28, 2023). "'Gran Turismo' Revs $17.4M, 'Barbie' $15.1M In Warner Bros & Sony Battle During National Cinema Day Weekend – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  34. Gleiberman, Owen (March 12, 2023). "'Bottoms' Review: Emma Seligman's Wild Ride of a High School Comedy Is a Gonzo Gay 'Fight Club' Meets 'Heathers'". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  35. Complex, Valerie (March 12, 2023). "'Bottoms' Review: Rachel Sennott And Ayo Edebiri Star In Emma Seligman's Comedy That's Soaked In Blood, Sweat, And Queerness – SXSW". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  36. Fear, David (March 12, 2023). "'Bottoms' Is the Horniest, Bloodiest High School Movie of the 21st Century". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
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