'Bottoms' Is Even Better Than You Think (Review)

this video is brought to you by raycon this last week I saw bottoms the latest from Emma Seligman if the name doesn't ring a bell she did Shiva baby a fantastic little independent film that went places nobody could have seen coming bottoms is the follow-up and has been described as a queer Fight Club starring Rachel Senate and AO debris and I've been looking forward to it for about three years now see sometimes I know what movies I'm going to talk about weeks in advance like I knew the world needed my thoughts on The Little Mermaid way before I saw it and that said I didn't think I'd be making a video about bottoms but after seeing it I kind of felt like I had to because not only is it a great movie but it also is sort of a movie I've been waiting for for a very long time let's get into it bottoms is about two high school friends who Start a Fight Club to try and hook up with their crushes and lose their virginities it has been one hell of a summer for comedies written and directed by women with music from Charli XCX because man is this funny I will say I'd understand if maybe it's not some people's sense of humor it ended up being a lot weirder than I was expecting it to be with some of its jokes cannot recommend this one to my mom that's that's what I will say but I thought this was a hoot I feel like when doing a comedy where a lot of the jokes are about feminism it's really easy to lose control of the joke and have the end result come off preachy instead of funny not that preachy is necessarily a bad thing but it isn't what you want when you're seeking out a comedy a great example is a handful of modern SNL sketches that fall victim to this but bottom sticks The Landing pretty much every time which is kind of a miracle even simple bits like the supervisor Crossing out the word feminism on the chalkboard lands so well but it happens because of the way Marshawn Lynch delivers it because it happens as the Beat Drops in Avril Lavigne's complicated because of the devastating context within the scene I wouldn't say any of the jokes here are lazy they don't feel like they plug them into a machine it truly feels like just a bunch of silly and sometimes stupid bits that a bunch of friends wrote together that eventually ended up in a movie which is how some of the best teen comedies were conceived the film is jam-packed with Jokes which really is refreshing to see even if I didn't laugh at every joke in the film I would much rather a comedy be overflowing with bits instead of me having to search for them the effectiveness of the comedy can be a to the lead performances from AO debris and Rachel Senate they both are so good with Rachel Senate I feel like she played her one-noted character in bodies really well but this finally feels like a character with some real depth and nuance and I thought she brought it home as far as I'm concerned this is the only Rachel Senate performance I saw this summer the idol no sorry I don't know what you're talking about I've never heard of it that said AO Debbie really does make the film she plays the awkward Michael Sarah type dweeb but again adds a lot of depth to the character without ever losing sight of the comedy I don't want to spoil it but there's a scene later in the film in her bedroom that is so funny and exciting and I just loved it I should really catch up with the bear shouldn't I honestly one of the standouts for me was Marshawn Lynch as in the former NFL player he plays the club supervisor in the film the coach and I thought he was so funny in pretty much every scene he was in I just was so surprised and glad that he killed it also feel the need to mention Nicholas use that scene who plays the hot popular jock Jeff I thought he was good and fun but I will say kind of a shame that this had to come out after Barbie it's hard to play this specific kind of character after Ryan Gosling's Ken kind of makes this seem like a diet version of that even if it's still pretty good A lot of teen comedies write off cinematography but bottom seems to actually pay some attention to it lots of wide static shots that depict schools are really sterile and tough environment to navigate the choice to go handheld as things start to crumble for the main characters also works really well this isn't groundbreaking stuff don't get me wrong but it just shows a level of Extra Care was put towards the filmmaking they don't see often in this genre I will say though I do think seligman's chops as a filmmaker shine brightest in that dramatic section of the film in the third act when things start falling apart personally I way more prefer Emma Seligman doing stressful uncomfortable filmmaking than the static absurdly comedic stuff maybe that's just me though but let's stop beating around the bush here that's all fine and great but why was this the kind of movie I've been waiting for what is so special about it well it feels like for the last five years people have been waiting for another classic comedy film everyone wants another super bad and how can you blame them when you look at what we have now the world just hasn't had something like that in a while even if when the world gives us one of the funniest and most original comedies of its time it doesn't go nearly as far as it should with its popularity and It ultimately feels like it just disappears book smart was blatantly attempting to fill that spot and I like booksmart don't get me wrong but looking back at it I wouldn't call it a classic that's a big one I should have had in my changed opinions video now that I think about it it's just a fun cute movie but it doesn't have the grime or grit it doesn't feel loose or like it's got its own immature flaws it's too clean and this isn't me calling bottoms a classic less than a week after its release don't get me wrong only time can decide on that as I've learned many times before in fact bottoms is pretty unconcerned with classic status as it should be you see movies like book smart and it Billy eichner's Bros Again movies that I do like their whole approach is taking a classic formula that has been proven to work a formula that we've seen before and modernizing it giving the queer Community a film that represents that experience and again there's no nothing wrong with that these are good movies but the thing about plugging this representation into classic formulas is that those classic formulas were outdated for reasons beyond their lack of representation they represented a glamorized side of the Teen experience or a romance and there's nothing wrong with that again we go to the movies to escape but what I'm saying is that to really grab hold of the current generation and give them the film they've been asking for the one where they can feel seen you gotta make your main characters just absolute losers I mean look at super bad they suck those guys but that's like what teenage boys are rather than plugging queer characters into the teen comedy genre bottoms actually acknowledges the genre and then deconstructs it makes fun of it but never loses sight of its satisfying crowd-pleasy appeal the characters aren't perfect the movie isn't perfect the world of the film is ridiculous but that's the charm of it right and by doing so you get a really bizarre and unique experience it's not the next super bad it's the first bottoms you know and at the end of the day when you make something this unique this off authentic you get something that has a way better chance at sticking with its audience than any of the other recent films I mentioned so if you can't tell I really loved it you'll probably love it I can't recommend it enough so thanks for watching go watch bottoms and form your own opinion air just check out the soundtrack because damn is it good soundtrack that I can't wait to listen to with this week's sponsor raycon right now I'm obsessed with raycon's everyday earbuds they look feel and sound better than ever I know it's not 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Channel: Karsten Runquist

Views: 232,397

Keywords: Bottoms, Shiva Baby, Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, The Bear, Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Idol, Marshawn Lynch, Barbie, Charli XCX, Nicholas Galitzine, Comedy, Film, Movie, Filmmaking, Weird, Absurd, High School, Booksmart, Superbad, Why, Video Essay, good, works, explained, ending, analysis, let me explain, movies, films, letterboxd, a24, karsten runquist, oscars, 2023

Id: Q4G6k8jzRkw

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 06 2023