R-Rated comedy Bottoms is currently the highest-rated movie of 2023 – according to Rotten Tomatoes.
The teen sex comedy stars Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby) and Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) as two high school seniors who dream up the plan of starting a fight club so they can sleep with cheerleaders. It probably sounded better in their head.
And so far, there’s been plenty to cheer about. Bottoms currently has a 99% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes as of writing. While that may change in the coming days, that means it’s got the best aggregate score out of any new release this year – ahead of the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (95%), Suzume (96%), and my current favorite film this year, Rye Lane (98%). Not bad company to keep.
Initial reactions from critics at SXSW in March heaped praise on Bottoms, with Rolling Stone calling it the "horniest, bloodiest high school movie of the 21st Century."
It gets even better for Bottoms, as it’s won the hearts of viewers too. Admittedly, it’s only been a small sample size so far, but it’s got a perfect 100% score with audiences. That will almost certainly dip across opening weekend, but the crass comedy – rated R for crude sexual content, violence, and pervasive language – remains top of the class for now.
Directed by Emma Seligman, Bottoms also stars Havana Rose Liu (No Exit), Kaia Gerber (American Horror Story), and Nicholas Galitzine (Red, White, and Royal Blue). It's currently on a limited theatrical run this weekend, with a wider release in more cities across the US on September 1.
