Summary
Viewers looking for more movies likeBottomswill be glad to know there is a long tradition of satirical teen comedies to pick from. Many teenLGBTQ+ movies are rom-coms,Bottomssets itself apart by being a biting black comedy that skewers teen movie ropes. Directed by Emma Seligman in her debut,Bottomsfollows two lesbian high school girls, PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) who begin an underground fight club to meet girls.
Though the protagonists have entirely different motivations, this premise is similar toFight Club, and like the cult classic David Fincher movie,Bottomshas a chaotic yet fitting ending. However, this is where the similarities between the two films end, asFight Clubis all about hypermasculinity, andBottomslooks at female agency and sexuality from a queer perspective. It explores these themes through an intense and over-the-top angle that highlights the unpredictable nature of young adulthood. And whileBottomsis a wholly unique film, there are plenty of fantastic movies about young people with a similar tone and ideas.
Bottoms
Cast
Bottoms is a sex comedy film that follows two high school girls determined to hook up with cheerleaders before they graduate. To accomplish this, they decide to start a fight club to power their way up to the top of the food chain.
10 Funniest Scenes From Bottoms, Ranked
The teen sex comedy Bottoms makes the pitfalls of high school, first love, and fight clubs into the funniest movie to come out in recent years.
Shiva Baby
Shiva Baby is a 2021 comedy-drama directed by Emma Seligman. The film stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a college student who unexpectedly encounters her sugar daddy and ex-girlfriend at a family shiva. The story unfolds in real time, emphasizing the protagonist’s discomfort and societal pressures within a confined setting.
Shiva Babyis Emma Seligman’s feature film debut and the breakout movie for Rachel Sennott. Now withBottoms, it’s clear that this is an actor-director collaboration that needs to keep happening.Shiva Babydeals with the same issues of finding oneself, romance, and relationships, but whereBottoms' cringiness comes from its bone-crunching violence,Shiva Baby’s comes from intense, uncomfortable social situations.
Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri are friends in real life and, beforeBottoms, co-starred in the Comedy Central miniseriesAyo and Rachel Are Single.
In the film, Danielle (Sennott) has to attend sit shiva with her extended family and friends (and some enemies). She is constantly jostled from room to room, avoiding questions about her future career and her present romances, givingShiva Babya tight, claustrophobic atmosphere. Sennott is much more subdued in this film, but it’s a great way to see another version of how Seligman depicts young, harried women.
But I’m A Cheerleader
But I’m a Cheerleader follows Megan, an all-American high school cheerleader, who is sent to a conversion therapy camp by her conservative parents after they suspect her of being a lesbian. The film explores her experiences at the camp as she navigates her identity and relationships.
But I’m a Cheerleaderis a 1999 cult LGBTQ+ satirical comedy. In the film, Megan Bloomfield (Natasha Lyonne), is the titular cheerleader who is forced to go to conversion therapy camp after her family and friends believe her to be a lesbian, despite Megan insisting she isn’t. It’s at camp that Megan learns she is indeed queer, and comes to embrace her sexuality. The movie is a comedy far ahead of its time and pokes holes in many dated conceptions about LGBTQ+ people.
The film brings a lot of levity and humor to a topic that, especially at the time, was talked about in grave tones.
Bottomstakes a lot of inspiration fromBut I’m a Cheerleader, and Seligman knows it, as Josie and her crush, Isabel (Hannah Rose Liu) go to a restaurant called, “But I’m a Diner”. Both films are send-ups of classic coming-of-age movies, thoughBut I’m a Cheerleaderhas a bit more to say about cinema in the ’80s and ’90s considering when it came out. The film brings a lot of levity and humor to a topic that, especially at the time, was talked about in grave tones.
Booksmart
Booksmart is a comedy film directed by Olivia Wilde and follows two studious and by-the-book high school seniors who decide on their final day of school to shake up the formula and break some rules. Having lamented missing four potential years of fun and friendship, the best friends attempt to cram four years of the “high school experience” into a single night.
Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever star inBooksmart, the female-driven (and superior) answer toSuperbad, is a unique and hilarious look at the end of the high school era for two girls. Molly (Feldstein) and Amy (Dever) have graduated from high school without enjoying any of the fun and risky behavior their classmates have been partaking in, only to find out their peers still got into top-notch colleges too. This motivates the girls to have one wild night of adventure to capture the high school experience.
LikeBottoms,Booksmarts' chaotic energy and absurdism escalate constantly throughout the movieuntil its thrilling finale at the party. The film takes many cues from teen comedies and examines some LGBTQ+ themes, though it’s never a defining trait of the characters.Booksmartis raunchy and incredibly funny the entire run, but there’s a very important thematic core about friendship and not getting caught up in other people’s perceptions.
In Hulu’sPlan B, a sheltered girl named Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) is pressured into throwing a party by her friend Lupe (Victoria Moroles), but when Sunny accidentally has unprotected sex, the two friends go on a road trip to get her the Plan B medication. It’s a much more difficult trip than either girl would have guessed, and they meet a cast of odd characters and new friends along the way. It’s also an eerily prescient look at how difficult finding birth control would become only a year later with the overturn ofRoe v. Wadein America.
Plan Bisn’t necessarily satirizing anything specifically, in the way ofBottoms, butit’s still an outrageous and provocative tale about female friendship.Movies likePlan BandBottomsare both about two young friends whose carefully laid plans quickly get out of control.Plan Boperates in a much more sympathetic tone, and its message more hopeful, particularly towards the end.
Do Revenge
Camilla Mendes and Maya Hawke star in Do Revenge, a Netflix comedy film about two high schoolers that after experiencing social bullying on a spectacular scale, become social outcasts. When Drea (Mendes) has a private video of hers leaked out across the internet by her boyfriend, her social life and brand are irreparably tarnished, leaving her outside her prior social circle. Eleanor (Hawke) experiences a similar situation when her bully, a girl named Carissa (Ava Capri), spreads a rumor that she tried to hold her down and kiss her. When the two form an unexpected friendship, they plan to “do revenge” against each other’s bullies in an elaborate scheme to tear them down.
Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke star in this black teen comedy. Loosely based onStrangers on a Train,Do Revengefollows a queen bee of a school, Drea (Mendes), who gets sunk to the bottom of her high school’s pecking order after lewd photos of her are released by her former boyfriend. Drea teams up with perpetual outcast Eleanor (Hawke) to regain her social standing and take revenge on the people who brought her down.
Do Revengeis filled with homages toMean GirlsandHeathers, but is distinctly modern in its sensibilities.
Do Revengeis filled with homages toMean GirlsandHeathers, but is distinctly modern in its sensibilities. The internet and social media are key themes of the film, as are the way those things warp young women’s perceptions of themselves and others. LikeBottoms,Do Revengeis not afraid to be hard-edged and rude and a lot of the comedy has an enjoyably wicked bite to it.
Heathers
Heathers is a dark comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann, featuring Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer and Christian Slater as J.D. Released in 1989, the story delves into high school social hierarchies and the consequences of rebelling against popular cliques. The film addresses themes of teen angst, peer pressure, and the impact of destructive behavior within a satirical framework.
For all the waysHeathershas aged poorly, it remains a critical part of the black comedy teen movie canon. In the film, starring two of the biggest young names of the era, Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, a high schooler named Veronica (Ryder) meets a new student at school, J.D. (Slater). J.D. is a misanthropic murderer and, together, he and Veronica slash their way through the students of their Ohio high school.
It is a total send-up of the aspirational teen films of the era, particularlythe movies of John Hughes. Instead of presenting high school as a nostalgic, melodramatic place,Heathersdepicts it in all its weird and cynical glory. The satire is pretty harsh stuff andthe darker elements of the film are the basis of what movies likeBottomshave been built upon.
Election
Directed by Alexander Payne, 1999’s Election is a Dark Comedy involving a high school election, focusing on the president of the student body. The film stars Matthew Broderick as a High School Social Studies teacher that ends up heading a scheme to disparage a popular girl (played by Reese Witherspoon) from winning the election.
Alexander Payne’sElectioncenters around a high school election season, and takes the fight for student president to concerning, albeit hilarious heights. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is an overachieving high school student running for president and Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is a teacher who despises her. To stick it to the young woman, he backs a rival candidate for the position, escalating a war between everyone at each step.
With plenty of raunchy R-rated comedy to boot,Election, likeBottoms, continuously raises the tension and the stakes of the film until everything boils over into chaos.
Beyond sex, romance, relationships, and fitting in,Bottomsis also about how important minor high school issues can seem like the end of the world. In both films, small tribulations are made into mountainous problems from which they snowball into something extremely dark. With plenty of raunchy R-rated comedy to boot,Election, likeBottoms, continuously raises the tension and the stakes of the film until everything boils over into chaos.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a comedy/horror/thriller from 2 AM. When Bee (Maria Bakalova) travels to a hurricane party with her girlfriend Sophie (Amanda Stenberg), they find themselves surrounded by affluent 20-somethings with very different world views. When the party finally kicks off amidst the coming storm, the debauchery leads to a game of “Bodies Bodies Bodies.” However, when a power outage occurs during the game, and a murder occurs in its stead, the party takes a turn for the deadly.
Bodies Bodies Bodiesis part of a tragically underrepresented genre of LGBTQ+ horror films and, likeBottoms, this movie also features Rachel Sennott, though only in a supporting role. In the film, a group of Gen Z college friends get together for a house party while a hurricane rages outside. To pass the time, they drink and play a murder mystery game called “Bodies Bodies Bodies”, which turns out to be more real than anyone could have guessed.
LikeBottoms,Bodies Bodies Bodieshas a high corpse countand the kills are as ridiculous and shocking here as they are in the former.The chaotic bloodiness in both films comes with a healthy dose of humor, making it both grisly and hilarious to watch unfold.Bodies Bodies Bodiesis a movie that charts the awkwardness of getting together with conflicting friends and how old relationships and rivalries can rear their heads at the worst times.
Assassination Nation
Assassination Nation is a black comedy thriller directed by Sam Levinson. The film follows four high school girls in the town of Salem who become the target of mass hysteria and violence after a hacker leaks private information about the residents.
InAssassination Nation, a town devolves into violence and chaos when a computer hacker leaks people’s personal secrets across the web. Hidden relationships and crimes are exposed as neighbor turns on neighbor in a bloody carnival until the four friends at the center are made scapegoats and forced to fight for their lives. It’s the second movie by Sam Levinson and has the distinctive style and energy that madeEuphoriaa hit.
The friend group inAssassination Nationgoes through hell to save each other, overcoming trust issues and deceptions in the digital world.
Assassination Nationis one of the few teen satires able to matchBottomsin terms of carnage and violence, thoughAssassination Nationfeels a bit meaner and more visceral. The friend group inAssassination Nationgoes through hell to save each other, overcoming trust issues and deceptions in the digital world. The bonds the characters share after overcoming formidable trials is a critical theme of the film, as it is inBottoms.
Mean Girls
Mean Girls tells the story of Cady (Lindsay Lohan), a teen girl who falls in with the wrong crowd. After returning to the USA after spending her childhood in Africa, Cady infiltrates her school’s group of mean girls, befriending the conniving Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and her cronies. However, Cady finds the high school hierarchy to be far more complicated than she had imagined, drawing her into a game of manipulation and deceit that threatens her reputation.
With Tina Fey at the helm,Mean Girlswas always going to be funny, but it wasn’t guaranteed to be the generational hit that it ended up becoming.Mean Girlsfollows Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), a formerly home-schooled teen who is new to North Shore High School, where she inadvertently befriends the “Plastics”, the ruling triumvirate of the school led by their Julius Caesar, Regina George (Rachel McAdams). It’s a laugh riot and culturally important film,defining the millennial generation likeHeathersdid for Gen X andBottomsfor Gen Z.
Any teen comedy satire owes a debt toMean Girls;Bottomsas much as any. This female-led movie is fascinated by the toxic relationships that can develop between girls in high school.Bottomstakes that idea and stretches it to an absurd point, butMean Girlsis where it starts.
