Bottoms Release Date, Cast, Trailer, Plot And More Details
If you're a fan of raunchy teen comedies — think "Superbad," "Easy A," or "Booksmart" — then you'll be happy to know that there's a new one on the way. It's called "Bottoms" and focuses on two queer teen girls who start a "fight club" at their school with an ulterior motive. It was announced in April of 2021 that Emma Seligman, director of 2020's "Shiva Baby," was co-writing a script with "Shiva Baby" star Rachel Sennott titled "Bottoms." Seligman was also announced as director.
Two years later, "Bottoms" premiered at the 2023 SXSW film festival to rave reviews, earning itself a near-perfect 96% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Kristy Puchko of Mashable, for one, wrote, "Hitting hard with a potent combination of humor, angst, and raunchiness, Bottoms is not only riotously entertaining but also sure to establish itself as a queer, chaotic landmark among its iconic predecessors."
If you're intrigued, here's everything you need to know about "Bottoms."
When will Bottoms be released?
"Bottoms" is slated to be released in theaters in a limited release on August 25, 2023. As stated above, the film already premiered at the SXSW festival in March of 2023. Ahead of SXSW, director Emma Seligman posted a still of the film on Instagram and wrote, "The girls are going back to [SXSW]!! (in person this time) Square up. March 11th." "Bottoms" then appeared on multiple lists from outlets listing the festival's best films, such as Mashable.
After the film was announced in April 2021, the full cast was announced one year later in April 2022. Then, filming began on April 18, 2022, in New Orleans and was scheduled to wrap on May 27, 2022. In September 2022, "Bottoms" star Rachel Sennott confirmed to The New York Times in an interview that filming on the movie had officially wrapped a few months prior.
What is the plot of Bottoms?
"Bottoms" follows two high school seniors, PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), queer best friends who have crushes on two cheerleaders, Brittany (Kaia Gerber) and Isabel (Havana Rose Liu). In an attempt to get Brittany and Isabel to notice them, PJ and Josie start a "fight club" for girls to learn self-defense. In other words, here's how Sennott described it to The New York Times: "[It's about] 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."
Moviegoers can definitely expect everything that they love from all of the classic raunchy teen comedies but with a major focus on the queer identities of the two main characters. Director and co-writer Emma Seligman told Entertainment Weekly, "Definitely we felt like queer women hadn't gotten there due from a teen sex comedy."
Who is starring in Bottoms?
Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri star as the two leads in "Bottoms." Sennott had her breakout role as the lead in "Shiva Baby" in 2020. Since then, she starred in the short-lived comedy series "Call Your Mother" and co-starred in the ensemble horror black comedy film "Bodies Bodies Bodies" in 2022. Currently, she's co-starring in the HBO series "The Idol" opposite Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd. Edebiri, meanwhile, had her breakout role this year with the FX restaurant-focused series "The Bear," in which she stars as a young chef. Edebiri, who has also worked as a writer on several notable shows in "Dickinson," has voiced the role of Missy on "Big Mouth" since 2020 and guest starred in "Abbott Elementary" as Janine's (Quinta Brunson) much-talked-about sister.
Kaia Gerber and Havana Rose Liu co-star as the two cheerleaders whom PJ and Josie have crushes on. Gerber, who started her career as a model, acted in two episodes of "American Horror Stories" and four episodes of "American Horror Story: Double Feature," both in 2021. She also had a minor role in Damien Chazelle's most recent film, "Babylon," in 2022. Liu, also a model, appeared in two films in 2022, "No Exit" and "The Sky Is Everywhere." She also appeared in two episodes of the Sandra Oh-starring Netflix drama "The Chair" in 2021.
The "Bottoms" cast also features Nicholas Galitzine ("Purple Hearts," "Cinderella") as Isabel's football player boyfriend Jeff and football player-turned-actor Marshawn Lynch as Mr. G, the teacher who becomes the club's advisor.
Who is directing Bottoms?
"Bottoms" is directed by Emma Seligman, who is known for directing the 2020 comedy film "Shiva Baby" about a college senior named Danielle (Rachel Sennott) who unexpectedly runs into her sugar daddy — and her ex-girlfriend — at a shiva. Prior to directing her first full-length film with "Shiva Baby," Seligman had directed two short films, 2017's "Void" and 2018's "Shiva Baby" (which would then be expanded into the full-length version and also starred Sennott in the leading role).
With "Bottoms," Seligman told Alternative Press during an interview in March 2023 that she learned that she does better work when she is collaborating with people she trusts, such as Sennott. When asked her biggest takeaway from her second feature, Seligman responded, "Work with your friends. I can talk for hours about all the little things where I'm like, 'Won't do that again. Got it,' but having Rachel and our [Director of Photography] Maria [Rusche], who did 'Shiva' as well, was the only way I could get through it. It was a reminder of why people work with the same people over and over again."
Who is writing and producing Bottoms?
As mentioned, "Bottoms" director Emma Seligman co-wrote the script with one of the film's stars, Rachel Sennott. "Bottoms" marks Seligman's fourth writing credit, following "Shiva Baby" and her two short films, while it marks Sennott's second after a 2019 miniseries titled "Stuck in the Mall." In May 2023, the writing duo spoke with Entertainment Weekly for an interview, during which they revealed that they were inspired by classic raunchy comedies such as "Wet Hot American Summer," "Bring It On," and "Superbad," amongst others. At the same time, Seligman and Sennott wanted to satirize the genre as well as pay homage to it.
Seligman said, "We had references in our mind in terms of Scott Pilgrim, Jennifer's Body, Jawbreaker, all these different movies. But we also wanted to make sure we weren't [just] doing one and that it was a mashup of genres. It's a campy high school movie, but it's also an action movie."
As for who is producing the film, that list includes Elizabeth Banks, the director and producer of the recent "Cocaine Bear," as well as the "Pitch Perfect" franchise. Other producers include Max Handelman and Alison Small, both of whom have produced alongside Banks before.
Is there a trailer for Bottoms?
Currently, the first trailer for "Bottoms" has been released by MGM. Right away, the trailer establishes that PJ has a crush on Brittany, that Josie has a crush on Isabel, and that the two best friends are determined to hook up with the cheerleaders at any cost. Somehow, Isabel ends up in the backseat of Josie's car, with PJ in the passenger seat. Isabel is clearly in a fight with her boyfriend Jeff — this then leads to Josie hitting Jeff with her car, albeit very lightly. While defending themselves to the principal, Josie and PJ come up with the idea to create a "fight club" for girls at their school to learn self-defense. Explaining why this will work out in their favor, PJ says, "We teach a bunch of girls to defend themselves, they are grateful to us, adrenaline is flowing. Next thing you know, Isabel and Brittany are kissing us on the mouths!"
The fight club turns out to be more than just an excuse to hang out with pretty girls, as PJ and Josie actually go through with teaching the others how to fight and defend themselves — and the trailer gives us a sneak peek of those bloody matches. One member of the group declares, "I'm gonna finally reverse stalk my stalker!" This then prompts another to say, "I'll be able to kill my stepdad!" PJ and Josie, hilariously, mumble confused responses.
Not everyone is happy with the club's existence, however, as some of the football players want to end the club and its ongoings. Fittingly, at one point, Isabel says, "Let's f*** up some football players."
What will Bottoms be rated?
Considering the F-bomb in the aforementioned line of dialogue, it probably comes as no surprise that "Bottoms" is rated R. Along with the language, we can also expect that sex is one of the reasons for the rating, seeing as the film is clearly setting out to be a raunchy teen comedy. Additionally, given that the premise centers on a fight club, there will be violence and, according to co-writer and star Rachel Sennott, they didn't shy away from making things graphic.
Sennott told Entertainment Weekly, "I think no one actually thought that we were gonna make it bloody." She explained further that, when the film was first announced, many news outlets thought that the fight club was just a ruse and that the plot wouldn't actually include physical fighting. With this assumption, various outlets were putting the term fight club in quotes. Sennott continued, "We had our producers calling them being like, 'Did you add quotes?' And they were like, 'Just for clarity, it's not actually a fight club...?' We were like, 'It's a fight club!'"