Movie Review: Bottoms

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A really funny raunchy comedy. 

This movie has an irresistibly silly premise. Two teen girls start a fight club (despite knowing nothing about fighting) in order to become more popular (and to impress two cheerleaders they have crushes on). It is one thing to have a good comedic premise and another to use this premise to its comedic potential. This film definitely lives up to its premise. The comedy is incredibly over the top and often very funny. It seems like comedies that truly abandon reality to get laughs are becoming rarer and rarer today. While doing this wacky of a comedy can backfire easily, when it works it is truly delightful. What helps make this movie work so well is that not only is it truly funny but there is such a wonderful comedic energy throughout. Even the gags that don't make you laugh keep this energy going. Because of this it is simply hard not to have fun watching. It also helps that no matter how over the top the comedy can get, it always comes directly out of the characters and story. This film simply takes moments that we can all relate to and exaggerates them to insane extremes. Because we can see ourselves and people we know in each of these gags, they become even funnier. It also helps that this movie builds up to a great comedic climax. The fact that the climax is the funniest and zaniest part of the movie, makes the film all the more satisfying. Of course, also very important is that the humor has many more gags that work than that miss. The main characters are ones that start off selfish and mature as the film progresses. Yet even when they are at their most selfish, we still find it easy to like them, because they are so easy to relate to and understand. As they mature, we only grow to like them more. The other girls in their fight club often conform to certain stereotypes, but while they aren't the deepest or most complex characters, they are very funny and give the movie its best gags. 

This film does have its flaws though. The football players (unlike the stereotypical female characters) often come off as more annoying than actually funny. The gags involving them are often the ones that simply fall flat. There is also the fact the despite a few clever comedic twists, for the most part, anyone who has seen a movie before knows where most of the plot points are going to go. 

While this may not be for everyone (the humor is not only over the top but often quite raunchy and even violent), it is a pure delight of a comedy. I simply had a great time watching it.