‘Captivating Comedy’
Have you ever been treated with ridicule by bullies in school?
Breakfast club bullies shaped my identity. As far as I can remember, I’ve often been picked on for being a shy wallflower teenager. Despite being a bright kid, I couldn’t fight bullies under moonlight. Mean girls became part of my routine at age thirteen. I’ll never forget the first time I was picked on by peers leaving me upset. In eighth grade, I became afraid of a girl causing dreams to fade. I recollect a time when she affected my pitch-perfect grades on a science fair project. On one dark day, she led my easy A grades astray. Throwing a tantrum, she accused me of plagiarism. In a hopeless situation, I was clueless. As a geek, I couldn’t speak to bullies with a huge physique. Being shy, I couldn’t stand up to bullies making me cry. Rushing to the bathroom crying, I couldn’t say anything to an imposing girl everyone was watching. A girl which was my friend for years sparked tears.
Before she became a bully, she was a friend that called me by my name. A tomboy in a league of her own, she became known for activities of boys alone. Disgusted by dresses girls wore to school, she regarded boys’ clothes cool. I recall she was the only girl in my team of baseball. Raised in the same neighborhood, we first me in boyhood. Sharing a Pakistani background, I found her easy to hang around. She spoke softly to me showing no signs of becoming a bully. As booksmart children, we shared love for art.
However, bullying disrupted our routine at the edge of seventeen. Sadly, superbad bullying broke my lifelong ties with a comrade. No longer the girl next door I used to adore, she became a stranger I would ignore. Years later, I was shocked to discover she was a lesbian on Twitter. As secretive as fight clubs, she kept sexuality hidden in plain sight. I began following her hoping to reconnect, but she blocked me with neglect. As life hit bottoms, I realized bullying affects education systems.
As someone experiencing bullying problems, I connected with Emma Seligman’s film “Bottoms”. Empowering, hilarious and meaningful, it addresses one of the worst problems in schools. Emma Seligman encapsulates bullying. Boasting exquisite production-design, soulful storytelling and phenomenal performances, it’s a captivating comedy. Although “Bottoms” is entertaining, it isn’t flawless. It’s unevenly paced, building abrupt conclusions. Nevertheless, it provides heartwarming entertainment.
“Bottoms” follows lesbian teenagers rising from schools’ bottoms confronting problems in education systems. Rachel Sennott embodies PJ, a lesbian teenager that can’t date attractive cheerleaders facing homophobic barriers. Assisted by friend Rosie (Ayo Edebiri), PJ constructs female-oriented fight clubs bringing bullying to an end. However, associations experiences tensions when violence attracts authorities’ attention. Experiencing ridicule, PJ questions belonging in school.
Emma Seligman adores LGBTQ communities. Her debut “Shiva Baby” followed bisexual women whose dreams rarely come true. With “Bottoms”, however, Seligman crafts teen movies. It’s the filmmaker’s attempt capturing teenagers, but she succeeds. Using captivating cinematography, Seligman captures a queer teenager’s journey. Evoking Stephen Chobsky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, Seligman creates enlightening montages showcasing how traumatic aftermath of bullying affects teenagers’ well-being. Montages elevate the “It’s Complicated” scene. During this scene, PJ experiences loneliness after losing fight club members that she bullies. It reminded me of trauma after being humiliated by a girl I appreciated. Montages are tricky. As Mark Waters’ “Mean Girls” suggested, montages elevate mean girls’ movies. Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” suggested montages elevate films about forbidden love affairs. However, it works. Alongside cinematographer Maria Rusche, Seligman demonstrates bullying. Seligman manufactures theatrical viewing.
If teenagers don’t attract your attention, however, there’s reasons to see “Bottoms”. Accompanied by production-designer Nate Jones, Seligman captures bullying using crowds. Seligman expertly uses crowds to convey how bullying affects gay teenagers today. During one sequence, PJ witnesses her companion Hazel beaten publicly by jocks. One acknowledges crowds recalling Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight”. Like Chiron’s ridicule for homosexuality, Hazel’s humiliated by cruel bullies. It reminded me of bullying in science fairs leaving me humiliated. Crowds are complicated. Arranging audiences is a costly technique. Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” suggested crowds elevate eighth grade movies. As John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” demonstrated, crowds elevated 1980’s movies. Nevertheless, it succeeds. Furthermore, music is magnificent. Evoking Amy Heckerling’s “Clueless”, it celebrates clueless adolescents. Through production-design, Seligman demonstrates bullying.
Another extraordinary “Bottoms” aspect is storytelling. Seligman’s screenwriting strength is tackling serious bullying subject matter with improvisation humor. Movies infrequently address how bullying impacts queer teenagers’ success. As a case-in-point: Will Gluck’s “Easy A” suggested that the only way for gay teenagers to escape bullying is sleeping with girls achieving an easy A. Fortunately, however, “Bottoms” avoids pitfalls. Evoking John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club”, Seligman demonstrates adolescents’ connections through improvised humor. Recalling teenagers’ breakfast club connections, PJ forms connections with fighting organizations. Improvisation elevates the sequence where PJ cultivates conversations in groups about personal tensions. It sparked heartwarming memories of a girl with whom I connected before she became a bully. Bullying is a serious subject not lending itself to improvised humor. As Jason Moore’s “Pitch Perfect” demonstrated, improvisation elevates dramas about pitch-perfect competitions. Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” suggested improvisation elevates movies about 12 years. However, it succeeds. Through storytelling, Seligman commemorates LGBTQ communities.
One appreciates astonishing performances.
Rachel Sennott delivers a breakthrough performance as PJ. In first significant performance, Sennott pours soul into a homosexual teenager making battling bullies her goal. It’s challenging capturing personality of a lesbian teenager experiencing homophobic barriers, but Sennott succeeds. Celebrating Kaitlyn Dever in Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart”, Sennott personifies a booksmart lesbian adolescent seeking a cheerleader’s heart. Through mesmerizing expressions, she demonstrates homosexual adolescents’ anxieties, disillusionment and resentments. It’s a career-launching performance.
The supporting cast is sensational, building powerful bonds. Ayo Edebiri is astonishing, demonstrating acknowledgements of a lesbian teenager seeking to overcome a school featuring homophobic barriers. Marshawn Lynch is marvelous, bringing humor to a rebellious African-American teacher. Last, Nicholas Galitzine merits acknowledgements. As a bully, he’s menacing.
Despite phenomenal performances, however, “Bottoms” doesn’t entirely get to the bottoms of bullying problems in education systems. If there’s a minor drawback to the movie, it suffers from an abrupt conclusion. Seligman’s decisions to end the film with a bloodbath is bold and inventive but doesn’t succeed. Whereas this conclusion elevated Michael Lehmann’s “Heathers”, it clashes with this film’s bullying depiction. As David Fincher’s “Fight Club” demonstrated, blood-soaked conclusions elevate satires. Kelly Fremon Craig’s “The Edge of Seventeen” demonstrated teen movies thrive based on uplifting rather than depressing conclusions. Worst, it suggests violence is bullying’s only solution. Consequently, “Bottoms” falters.
Nevertheless, fans of coming-of-age movies will recognize “Bottoms” and so will moviegoers that give acknowledgements to bullies. A captivating comedy, it shines moonlight on plight of gay teens unable to stand up against bullies in fight. A phenomenal portrait of a painful problem influencing lives of lesbian teenagers facing institutionalization’s bottom, it could give modern adolescents wisdom to find effective solutions giving acknowledgements to a problem.
A devastating depiction of the dire impact of bullying on shy wallflower adolescents’ well-being, it’s a depressing reminder of how silent teens humiliated by peers in parties face health that’s declining.
Like connections between teenagers in breakfast club associations, it’s a powerful reminder bullying doesn’t have to be a problem without a solution resolved by teenagers joining organizations.
If movies could shine light into dark lives of teens unable to beat bullies’ plight, hopefully seeing girls form a fight club will incite teens to leave painful pasts behind building futures that are bright.
As powerful as the fight clubs created by PJ, it has made me move on from the day bullies ruined my life by celebrating a gay girl that transformed my life in a big way stirring awareness of heavy price queer teens at schools’ bottoms pay today.
4.5/5 stars
The Film Buff 