Bottoms

Being the resident film lesbian, I have spent my years watching sad period drama after sad period drama. And while I love some good old yearning and pining, sometimes I don’t want to cry. Sometimes I need the reminder that being a lesbian isn’t a happiness death sentence.

There tends to be a trope in lesbian-driven media where the relationships are either hyper infantilized and treated as “pure” (just about every kids cartoon ever) or incredibly hyper sexualized (just about every film about lesbians… ever.) If they aren’t either, the lesbian characters/relationships are completely pushed to the background and ignored. 

Thankfully, Emma Seligman’s Bottoms doesn’t fall into any of those categories. The lesbians are the main characters! And they are sexual, but not in a way that feels fetishizing or for male gaze purposes. Instead, Seligman trades sex scenes for female solidarity and queer joy (with scoops of awkwardness, sadness, yearning, and anger of course). In fact, the entire movie treats queerness so casually. There are discussions of homophobia and heterosexuality, but PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) being lesbians isn’t a big deal! Everyone knows it and they take pride in it.

Of course, incredible representation is only half of it. Glee has groundbreaking lesbian representation, but that doesn’t make the show good. Bottoms, however, is actually good. Unlike its heterosexual predecessors of the early 2000s, the film doesn’t rely purely on sex jokes. The sex jokes are very much there (and they’re funny as hell), but substance is also just as present. There are very real and well thought out themes of acceptance and female friendship, which writers Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott are able to perfectly blend with the comedy. The pacing here isn’t always perfect, but that doesn’t really harm the experience; there’s never a non engaging moment found in Bottoms. 

The stars Rachel and Ayo have been dubbed Gen-Z’s Princess Dianas. And if they’re Princess Diana, Bottoms is their Windsor Castle. It may not be their best performances, but that’s hardly a criticism when they’re consistently delivering the most iconic performances of the year. The entire ensemble here, actually, is delivering the most iconic performances of the year. Kaia Gerber has gone from the laughing stock of the internet to someone who can actually act! Ruby Cruz and Havana Rose Liu deliver the breakouts of the year! Nicolas Galitzine is so damn funny! Everyone here knew exactly what energy to bring and boy, did they bring it. 

Seeing a film made for young lesbians is so exciting, and it’s even more exciting that it was actually a hit both critically and with audiences! I’m so happy I live in a world where an absurd, violent, horny film can be made about people like me.

9.5/10