Bottoms

In selected cinemas now

There is a long lineage of comedies that all, to varying degrees of effectiveness, capture the incomparable awkwardness of being a teenager. Naturally, some of those films live longer in the memory than others, and Emma Seligman’s riotous Bottoms falls into that category.

Co-written by Seligman and Rachel Sennott, who previously collaborated on the former’s Shiva Baby, the film follows two gay high school seniors (played by Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) who, in an attempt to hook up with their crushes, decide to set up a fight club. What ensues is a rip-roaring subversion of gender stereotypes that is often laugh-out-loud funny and far bloodier than you’d ever expect a comedy to be.

Sennott and Edebiri are both outstanding in the lead roles, brilliantly evoking the desperation that comes with being a teen outcast. Their painstaking attempts to fit in, which is predicated on a hilarious tale about a non-existent summer spent in a juvenile detention centre, become more agonising to witness as time goes on and ultimately culminates in one of the most absurdist ends to a film I’ve ever seen.

Both actors are underpinned by a stellar supporting cast that includes a stand-out performance from former NFL star Marshawn Lynch as a straight-talking teacher that agrees to be an advisor to the girls’ club. Props should also go to Ruby Cruz, who delivers a slightly more nuanced turn as a club member with a penchant for making bombs, and Nicholas Galitzine and Miles Fowler as the villainous but altogether hopeless jocks that attempt to halt the club in its tracks.

Above all else though, what’s great about Bottoms is that it truly feels as if it was made for contemporary audiences, a sentiment which has been echoed by Seligman herself. While it is depressingly unsurprising to learn that it was initially rejected by various studios, it's safe to say that the cinematic landscape looks all the more healthy for having defiantly inclusive films such as this amongst its canon.