In the best way possible, Bottoms feels like a 2020s version of John Tucker Must Die. Both high school movies expertly balance absurdity with real issues young women face, like, for example, the wandering eyes of teenage boys. Popular girls with perfectly crimped hair show the dorkier girls how to get by in high school society. Girls get revenge. And, of course, the soundtracks slap. (The girls slap too, in a more literal sense.)
Although up-to-date iPhones and on-trend outfits point to the fact that Bottoms takes place in the present day, Emma Seligman’s flick about teen girls starting a fight club is pointedly timeless. Everyone in 2030 will watch Bottoms the same way we’re all still watching Mean Girls in 2023, almost two decades after its 2004 release. At the same time, Bottoms also feels like an ode to the Y2K era of classic high school films, in tribute to titles like John Tucker, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bring It On, and She’s the Man. One of the film’s best needle drops proves this point even further.
(Warning: Slight spoilers for Bottoms, including the big needle drops, below.)
