Bottoms

Grade: A-

There is more energy and personality in Bottoms (at 92 minutes) than many of the lengthier comedies I’ve seen in the last few years. Except for Polite Society, it’s the most fun I’ve had at the theater this year. It’s the film that Sugar and Spice, Election, and Heathers strove to be, and though they sometimes succeeded, Bottoms is better than all three. It’s kooky, zany, preposterous, and never backs down or wavers from the unusual, fantastical world that director Emma Seligman has created.

Star Rachel Sennott co-wrote the screenplay with Seligman, and served as a co-executive producer. I know her from Bodies Bodies Bodies, last summer’s uniquely hip horror comedy. In an ensemble that featured many stellar performers, she was the standout. Perhaps not conventionally pretty (though I think she is), she has deep brown doe-like eyes, facial expressions and physicalities that say a thousand words each, and is the kind of comedic actor that makes others in the business jealous. She is now officially one of my favorite people working in the movies.

She and Ayo Edebiri (the voice of April O’Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) star as high schoolers PJ and Josie – lifelong friends. Both lesbians. Their wardrobes lean toward the homely side. Sennott wears lots of overalls and flannel shirts. They stumble on a bizarre plan to start up an after-school fight club/self-defense organization, so they can get more popular and, most importantly, win over their respective crushes. PJ has a thing for Brittany, and Josie likes Isabel. They hope Brittany and Isabel are not straight.

I don’t completely understand how forming this club would accomplish all that, but it’s part of the far-out madcap fun of the movie. Bottoms could have been a cartoon. Bloody fights break out during games and pep rallies. Kids, the teachers, and the principal all cuss, including on the morning announcements, and other occasions involving microphones. The less realistic and credible everything became, the more I couldn’t stop watching it. The soundtrack makes wonderful use of popular and lesser-known songs that punctuate the action. The cast looks like they had the time of their lives filming this, and they share it with us. Even the credit cookies are inspired. It’s not just the usual display of actors blowing their lines, breaking character, and laughing. Much of it is alternate takes and funny adlibs that didn’t make it in.

This isn’t elegant, upstanding cinema. It’s campy, pulpy trash, but among the best you’ll see. You will leave with a smile on your face and a pep in your step. Movies are like food to me, and sometimes you’re just in the mood for McDonald’s. I loved Bottoms.

Grade: A-