Bottoms

Two gay high school nerds (Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri) start a fight club in order to get closer to girls they like and to try and get laid.

I don’t know how much more room there is in the market for modern high-school comedies with sex-positive characters and life affirming messages, but so far they’ve all been pretty good and this one is no exception. I love its slightly-detached-from-reality version of high-school, it’s a funny and smart detail that acknowledges that a bunch of 30 year-olds pretending to be 17 is ridiculous.

Perhaps a modern re-imagining of comedies from 20 years ago (stop trying to make Mean Girls happen, it’s not going to happen), Bottoms starts with some minor shenanigans and keeps doubling down until the pot boils over and it truly goes bonkers at the end. It’s a wild, often hilarious ride.

It could have been more ambitious in actually raising some stakes for its characters. The final scene is funny but also it’s a bit of a cop out on having to deliver any emotional impact.

I’m just looking for stuff to pick at though—Bottoms is so funny, surprising and confident that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself.