There are generally two kinds of directors who find themselves making a film that proves to be quite successful – there are those who choose to rest on their laurels to an extent, making films within that wheelhouse based around the idea of finding their niche and maintaining it, particularly when it comes to genre filmmaking, and then there are those that change course entirely and choose to make something almost completely different. In the case of Emma Seligman, we have a perfect example of the latter, since after her masterful Shiva Baby, a brilliant work of pure anxiety formed along the lines of the quirky independent comedies that take place in a single location and throughout a very limited amount of time, she chose to make something slightly more ambitious in the form of Bottoms, which was inspired by the high school comedies that have become an institution onto themselves, despite their predictable nature and often quite bizarre quirks that everyone generally agrees to overlook. The film focuses on PJ and Josie, a pair of queer high school students who find themselves on the bottom rung of the social ladder, and to finally feel some sense of romance decide to start a self-defence group, in which they hope to seduce their crushes into giving them a chance, not realizing that their efforts will eventually manifest in this becoming something of a female fight club, and which will have unexpected consequences when their plot is inevitably revealed. Seligman proves herself to be a very gifted filmmaker, someone who didn’t only have a brief moment of success with her previous film, but rather an essential voice that brings a distinct and compelling perspective to contemporary cinema – and while it is not perfect, Bottoms has the right ideas and just enough ambition to push itself through this absurd but fascinating premise.

While it may take on many different forms, the sign a truly great satire makes its inspirations and intentions clear, but not glaringly obvious, since relying too heavily on parodying a specific concept or style ultimately results in a spoof, and while these can be effective, we have seemingly outgrown the era where these have artistic resonance, at least in their most saturated form. Instead, the secret is to be able to take a particular subject and develop on both the familiar elements, and those that are slightly less obvious, creating a balanced experience that is often most effective when it knows exactly how to approach certain ideas. Bottoms makes its aims quite clear – this is a film that intends to lampoon the generations of high school films, the kind that are populated by people that are at least a decade too old to be playing students, and driven by the most formulaic, convention premise imaginable, almost to the point where they become indistinguishable and frankly deeply boring, except a few selected films that have stood the test of time through doing something different. Bottoms fit into this mould quite well, but in a way that suggests both reverence to these films, as well as profound incredulity. Seligman is a smart filmmaker, so while it may seem like a very conventional comedy on the surface, it doesn’t take too much time for this film to prove its mettle through its careful blend of bawdy humour and the most unhinged absurdism we have seen in quite a film, stopping just short of being a perverse fever dream, which is how the director and her team manage to so effectively capture our attention.

One of the ways Seligman piques our interest in Bottoms is through casting Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri, two actors who have recently burst into the industry and instantly became cherished figures of this new generation of performers, a result of the combination of their incredible skillfulness in a variety of projects, and their generally endearing presence that makes them such fascinating figures. Sennott reunited with the director after Shiva Baby, which proved to be her introduction to many viewers, who were instantly smitten by this incredibly gifted, compelling actor whose talents were unlike anything we saw coming from her contemporaries. It’s bewildering to imagine that Bottoms is only her third major film role (and perhaps even overall, unless we count that ill-fated sitcom Call Your Mother, in which she very nearly got trapped) since it feels like she has been around a lot longer, primarily because she is the epitome of a kind of character, someone who straddles the boundary between millennials and Generation Z, which has allowed her to become something of a darling of the independent arthouse, and very soon the mainstream, considering how she is gradually making her way through the industry and proving her gifts. Edebiri has similarly made an audacious start to her career in both film and television and has proven her gifts with a range of terrific roles. Bottoms cast them in these hilarious roles, and while neither is particularly complex or daring, they’re both fantastic. The supporting cast is also excellent, with Havana Rose Liu and Kaia Gerber in particular proving to be quite good, and Ruby Cruz coming very close to stealing the film outright. A film like this is only going to be as strong as its weakest link, and while some of the smaller performances do leave quite a bit to be desired, the central roles are all fantastic and elevate this film far beyond our expectations.

Bottoms is a film that works most when it is allowed to be absurd, and Seligman is given free rein to go as far as she desired, granted it was kept within the realm of decency and didn’t cross any moral boundary that would prove to be too intense. This gives the film a sense of unpredictability since we can never anticipate just where it is going, and part of the appeal is how it grasps its ideas without needing to resort to cliches. However, this is oddly only true for the first portions of the film, since it does eventually find itself employing conventions that are not quite adherent with the more outrageous tone of the film as a whole. This is a film that undeniably is at its best when it is subversive, but it, unfortunately, has a few moments towards the end where it becomes quite typical, and as gifted as a filmmaker as she may be, Seligman is not versed with more serious material, since the film struggles in the more dramatic moments, coming across as slightly overwrought. These choices can be justified by noting that there needed to be some structure to the film, and the central tension does add some stakes to the story, but it ultimately feels like Bottoms benefits from the sense of silliness with which it was conceived, rather than these often heavy-handed moments of overwrought sentimentality. Mercifully, these are short and don’t take up too much time, and set up the final act in which the film can be truly outlandish, so it wasn’t entirely wasteful but could have still benefitted from a tighter approach to its emotional content, which was already mostly present, it just needed to be refined.

Hilarious and off-the-wall, Bottoms is a film that takes some bold swings, and while it may not always hit home runs in terms of every joke landing, it’s still a solid offering in a landscape that only benefits from directors taking risks when it comes to comedy since playing by the rules is deeply passé and very rarely results in anything valuable, let alone groundbreaking. This film is not the definition of revolutionary, nor is it doing anything particularly unique in terms of the story – but the sharp humour and insistence on going in its direction help elevate this film to be much more engaging than we may have initially expected. There’s a lot of merit in what this film is doing, and it frequently dares to be quite different in several ways, but for the most part, Bottoms is a reliably funny film that may struggle with taking charge of the slightly more dramatic elements but still succeeds when it matters the most. Hilarious, irreverent and never afraid of ruffling a few feathers in the name of comedy, Seligman achieves something quite special with Bottoms, which is a lot of fun, even when it does veer towards conventional slightly too frequently for us to view it as being anything more than a consistently funny satire that hits all the expected beats, just not necessarily in the order we may expect.