Bottoms

Bottoms had me laughing pretty much all the way through. However, as D noted, a lot of the laughs were asynchronous. It happens. When two hapless lesbian high schoolers, PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), try to hook up with cheerleaders by starting a school sanctioned fight club, things go sideways, quickly. First of all, what faculty member in their right mind would sign on to advise such a group? Maybe someone like Mr. G, played convincingly by former NFL star Marshawn Lynch, who’s going through a divorce and phoning it in. In one memorable scene, Mr. G has the class reenact the Treaty of Versailles while he sits back to enjoy the Big Booty Babes edition of Divorced & Happy magazine. 

As the poster says, Bottoms, is produced by Elizabeth Banks, who also Directed Cocaine Bear. (We actually both wrote Cocaine Bear reviews.) And this film certainly has that same zaniness, irreverence, great casting and a touch of gore, but nothing too over the top. Just enough to make you audibly groan and then laugh. The dialogue reminded me of His Girl Friday, with plenty of repartee that kept things moving right along.

I also learned a few things. In a dramatic mic drop moment, one black fight club member says, “This is the Second Wave all over again!”, a reference to the exclusion of women of color in the narratives of Second-wave feminism. This zinger, set up by a Mr. G multiple choice question, possibly in a “History of Murdered Women” class, had people laughing out loud in the theater.

Bottoms creates an absurd yet believable universe. It is certainly silly but the comedy belies a cutting social critique. What better way to heal what ails us, than to serve it up with a smile. Or an uppercut to the jaw. A side kick to the groin. A broadsword through the chest. …Mistimed explosives.