teen
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
sex comedy
Sexual intercourse, Sex comedy, erotic comedy or more broadly sexual comedy is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sex comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, ...
film directed by
Emma Seligman
Emma Seligman (born May 3, 1995) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for their feature directorial debut '' Shiva Baby'' (2020).
Career
As a teenager, Emma Seligman contributed film reviews to '' The Huffington Post''. They s ...
from a screenplay she co-wrote with Rachel Sennott, who also stars opposite Ayo Edebiri. The film is produced by
Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perf ...
under her
Brownstone Productions
Brownstone Productions is an American film and television production company founded by actress, director and producer Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman. It is known for producing the '' Pitch Perfect'' franchise; '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012), ''Pi ...
banner. It follows two high school senior girls (Sennott and Edebiri) who set up a fight club as a guise to hook up with cheerleaders. Havana Rose Liu,
Kaia Gerber
Kaia Jordan Gerber (born September 3, 2001) is an American model and actress. She is the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber. After starring in a series of ad campaigns for fashion brands since debuting at Fashio ...
,
Nicholas Galitzine
Nicholas Dimitri Constantine Galitzine (born 29 September 1994) is a British actor and singer. known for his roles in '' High Strung'' (2016), '' Handsome Devil'' (2016), ''Cinderella'' (2021) and '' Purple Hearts'' (2022).
Early life
Galitzin ...
,
Dagmara Domińczyk
Dagmara Domińczyk ( ; born July 17, 1976) is a Polish-American actress and author. She has appeared in the films '' Rock Star'' (2001), ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (2002), '' Kinsey'' (2004), ''Trust the Man'' (2005), '' Lonely Hearts'' (2006) ...
, and
Marshawn Lynch
Marshawn Terrell Lynch (born April 22, 1986) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "Beast Mode", he spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks. Lyn ...
appear in supporting roles.
''Bottoms'' premiered at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
on March 11, 2023, where it received critical acclaim for its humor, characters, and satirical elements. It will be distributed by
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
through
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
in the United States on August 25, 2023.
Premise
Two high school senior girls set up a "fight club" to
hook up
"Hook Up" is a collaborative single by the artists signed under New Zealand record label Dawn Raid Entertainment under the name Dawn Raid All-Stars released in 2004.
The premise of the single was also to promote Boost Mobile Boost Mobile may re ...
with cheerleaders before graduation.
Cast
Production
In April 2021 it was announced that Seligman and Sennott were working with
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
and
Brownstone Productions
Brownstone Productions is an American film and television production company founded by actress, director and producer Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman. It is known for producing the '' Pitch Perfect'' franchise; '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012), ''Pi ...
, with
Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perf ...
,
Max Handelman
Max Handelman (born May 3, 1973) is an American sportswriter, producer, and blogger. He co-wrote the book ''Why Fantasy Football Matters: (And Our Lives Do Not)'' with Erik Barmack. Handelman is married to actress Elizabeth Banks. Handelman co-fo ...
, and Alison Small producing for Brownstone, and
Alana Mayo
Alana Mayo is a film executive, producer, and president of Orion Pictures.
Early life and education
Mayo was born in New York and was raised in Chicago. Her father is radio executive Barry Mayo who helped launch WRKS and was the first black ge ...
producing for Orion. It is the second collaboration between Seligman and Sennott after 2020’s ''
Shiva Baby
''Shiva Baby'' is a 2020 comedy film written and directed by Emma Seligman. The film stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a with her parents, Joel (Fred Melamed) and Debbie ( Polly Draper). Ot ...
''. Whilst promoting that film, Seligman described her next project as a "campy queer high school comedy in the vein of ''
Wet Hot American Summer
''Wet Hot American Summer'' is a 2001 American teen comedy film directed by David Wain from a screenplay written by Wain and Michael Showalter. The film features an ensemble cast, including Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Pa ...
'' but more for a Gen-Z queer audience." In April 2022, it was announced that Ayo Edebiri,
Marshawn Lynch
Marshawn Terrell Lynch (born April 22, 1986) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "Beast Mode", he spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks. Lyn ...
Kaia Gerber
Kaia Jordan Gerber (born September 3, 2001) is an American model and actress. She is the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber. After starring in a series of ad campaigns for fashion brands since debuting at Fashio ...
,
Nicholas Galitzine
Nicholas Dimitri Constantine Galitzine (born 29 September 1994) is a British actor and singer. known for his roles in '' High Strung'' (2016), '' Handsome Devil'' (2016), ''Cinderella'' (2021) and '' Purple Hearts'' (2022).
Early life
Galitzin ...
, Miles Fowler,
Dagmara Dominczyk Dagmara is a given name. Notable people with the given name include:
* Dagmara Domińczyk (born 1976), Polish-American actress and author
* Dagmara Grad (born 1990), Polish footballer
*Dagmara Handzlik (born 1986), Polish-born Cypriot long distanc ...
and Punkie Johnson were added to the cast. Filming was scheduled to take place in
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 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.”
Eunice Jera Lee served as costume designer on the film. She took inspiration from '' Grease'' (1978), ''
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American Teen film, teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughes. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, with supporting roles from Jenni ...
'' (1986), ''
Heathers
''Heathers'' is a 1989 American black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, ...
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
on March 11, 2023. It is set for a
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...
in the United States by
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
on August 25, 2023, before expanding on September 1, 2023.
Reception
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, ''Bottoms'' has an approval rating of 96%, based on 25 reviews with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critical consensus says, "Propulsive and over-the-top, ''Bottoms'' is an instant high school comedy classic that feels both current and nostalgic." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which uses
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
, the film is assigned a score of 79 out of 100, based on 9 reviews indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Reviewing the film for ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', following its premiere at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
,
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014 ...
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". Valerie Complex of ''Deadline'' 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 an epic exploration of the gray areas of queerness and what it means to stand in the center of that as an adolescent". Referring to the film as the "horniest, bloodiest high school movie of the 21st century" in a highly enthusiastic review for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'', David Fear lauded every aspect of the film, including its direction, screenplay and cast performances.