Bottoms

Right from the top, Bottoms has to walk a fine line. It wants to push boundaries as a go-for-broke paean to teenage rebellion through a progressive lens of queer empowerment, but also needs to justify itself beyond sensationalism and shock value.

With an anarchic style and ferocious attitude, this subversive coming-of-age sex romp about underdog outsiders taking on a world of shallow superficiality generates some scattered big laughs from its abundance of unfiltered sass, although beneath the caustic surface, a deeper emotional investment remains elusive.

The story follows suburban seniors and lesbian best friends P.J. (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri), who are willing to burn every bridge while concocting a scheme to lose their virginity before graduation, preferably to cheerleaders.

Their idea to lure potential partners is a new club ostensibly about girls sharing their feelings and supporting one another under the guise of feminist ideals. They even recruit a faculty advisor (Marshawn Lynch) to sponsor their meetings.

Once the ragtag regulars are assembled, their true motives become clearer, as the gatherings evolve into a surreptitious fight club aiming to cause social chaos throughout the campus.

The mildly refreshing screenplay by Sennott and director Emma Seligman — collaborating on a larger scale than their slight but amusing 2021 comedy Shiva Baby — unleashes a rapid-fire barrage of acerbic barbs that mostly hit the mark. And it deserves credit for not softening its edge or watering down its perspective for mainstream consumption.

The underlying message of acceptance would resonate more broadly if the characters were more likable or the story was more subtle or grounded in reality. The film stumbles when it tries to explore adolescent angst and relationships with more sincerity.

As it stands, we root for the protagonists more for what they do rather than who they are. The committed performances by Sennott and rising star Edebiri (Theater Camp) certainly help. And former NFL running back Lynch conveys a winning screen presence.

Bottoms is too sketchy and uneven to join the ranks of raunchy generational classics it emulates. Yet while the effort surpasses the execution, any movie with a montage of mischief set to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” can’t be all bad.

Rated R, 92 minutes.