Raunchy comedies have had a difficult time at the box office this year. The Jennifer Lawrence comedy, “No Hard Feelings” was a middling success. The Asian “Girl’s Trip” film, “Joy Ride” vanished into the sunset. They may find their audiences on streaming platforms. There’s another R-rated comedy playing in theaters now. Sadly, there’s no talent out there promoting it due to the writers and actors strikes. It’s fighting an uphill battle for box office glory…good thing it features a fight club.
“Bottoms”, directed by Emma Seligman from a script she wrote with one of the stars, Rachel Sennott, is a lesbian high school sex comedy. More akin to crass comedies like “Porkies” or “Animal House” than the more genteel and realistic 2019 “Booksmart”, “Bottoms” is rougher around the edges and still gets you cheering for the lovelorn heroes. The premise of two losers in high school trying to bang the hottest cheerleaders is given a comedic spin. The independent film created some buzz from the South by Southwest film festival and has slowly found an audience ($7.9 million US & Canada box office as of Sept 11, 2023).
The plot is funny. Two best friends think that starting a fight club in high school will score them points with the cheerleaders they’ve got crushes on. Rachel Sennott’s character, PJ, is crass and sarcastic. It’s refreshing to see a performance where the star isn’t afraid to play an unlovable character. Her best friend, Jose, is played by Ayo Edebiri. Her character reluctantly goes along with the brash plan, but she too begins to spin yarns to catch the eye of her crush (Havana Rose Liu). There’s lots of scenes spoofing high school films. The characters are tossing off insults in class and then minutes in, the bell rings. PJ’s says, “That’s it?!” –acknowledging that the scene was just about introducing the character conflict.
After injuring the star quarterback (the hilarious Nicholas Galitzine), the young ladies are targets of derision at school. They convince a teacher to be an advisor and start the after-school fight club. Pretending it’s to give other high school girls lessons in self-defense, it’s a ploy to get closer to their crushes. PJ derides all the club members as ugly and takes to yelling at them to inspire confidence. Jose goes along with the charade — that they’re using skills they gained in “juvie” and even embellishes the lie. She spins a chilling tale that sounds like a scene from “The Hunger Games”.
The only fight club leader taking the club seriously, Ruby Cruz, is great as Hazel. She has troubles at home and is trying to create a safe space for the other damaged and emotionally fragile girls. She types up notes and wants to set an agenda. Hazel even tries to get them to learn fighting skills. They start the fight club with learning to take a punch…straight to the face! As the women become more empowered, there’s less bloodletting and more comradery.
They need to establish that bond because they’re called into action when one of their own gets cheated on. Hilariously, they don’t have much impact trying to teepee the lug-head football player’s house, but Hazel comes to the rescue with explosive results. Friendships are tested when the truth is revealed about the true origins of the fight club. PJ and Jose have a big confrontation and the fight club dissolves.
There’s a fun bonkers finale with the crew all reassembling to rescue their football team. When the rival team comes to play; the hometown cheerleaders come to slay. Each character gets to put her new skills to the test against the football players. Jose rescues the quarterback, carrying him off the field. It makes little sense but it’s a lot of fun. Lessons are learned, bonds are formed and the take-away: it’s great to celebrate queer love stories. Even the raunchy ones.
Drinks with Films rating: 3 chocolate milk shakes at the local high school hangout (out of 5)
Drinks with films 