Warning: Spoilers ahead for Bottoms!
Bottoms boasts an ending that’s just as over-the-top and unexpected as the rest of the film. Co-written by Shiva Baby collaborators Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott, Bottoms centers on two queer teens, the impulsive PJ (Sennott) and the more reticent Josie (The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri). The self-described “ugly, untalented gays” realize they have no real chance of hooking up with their long-time cheerleader crushes before the end of senior year, especially not when football players like Jeff (Red, White & Royal Blue‘s Nicholas Galitzine) are fawning over them. So, when a misunderstanding has the whole school believing the duo spent their summers in juvie, PJ and Josie run with it.
A rival high school, Huntington, clearly has it out for the Vikings and their supporters, making hardened PJ and Josie the perfect candidates to lead a fight club. Allegedly a group about empowering and supporting fellow women, the self-defense venture attracts the pair’s crushes, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber). However, the club’s legitimate bonds of slowly forming friendship are completely upended when Tim (Miles Fowler), Jeff’s right-hand man, discovers the juvie lie and reveals the club’s foundational cracks. With Huntington poised to strike, the fight club troops resolve their issues and band together to save the football team in Bottoms‘ knockout of an ending.
Josie & PJ’s Fight Club Kills The Entire Huntington Football Team
Following in the footsteps of some of the best high school movies of all time, Bottoms culminates with a big game: the Vikings vs. arch-rivals Huntington. Throughout the movie, Huntington students threaten PJ and Josie’s classmates, making the need for a self-defense club all the more pressing. What starts as an aimless, weird series of black eye-inducing meetings overseen by self-proclaimed feminist teacher Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch) turns into a chance for the teens to hone their hand-to-hand prowess. The fight club is put to the test in the movie’s final moments, which sees the members of the group storming the field to protect Jeff and the other Viking players.
Despite feeling betrayed by PJ and Josie, even cheerleaders Isabel and Brittany toss aside their pom-poms and join the fray, absolutely pummeling the Huntington football players. In the stands, would-be football fans cheer the fight club’s ultra-violent, limb-snapping feats on. It’s an over-the-top, ludicrous finale that’s perfectly in line with the rest of the subversive, hyperbolic comedy’s approach to high school. After seemingly killing the entire Huntington squad, the bloodied fight club members celebrate their accomplishments as the whole town applauds.
Why Huntington Wanted To Kill A Viking Football Player
In the eyes of the fight club, Huntington’s violent end is deserved. After the reveal of PJ and Josie’s juvie lie, the best friends turn on each other. Frustrated and alone, Josie seeks out some advice from Punkie Johnson’s Rhodes, only to realize — without all that much help from Rhodes — that Huntington plans to murder a Viking player in order to win the match-up. With the big game looming, it’s clear to Josie that the attempted killing will take place on the field. She rallies the troops and convinces them not only of her plan, but of the real bonds they formed, despite the initial club-making lie.
Throughout Rotten Tomatoes’ highest-rated new comedy, there’s a running gag that Jeff, the star player and (somewhat) romantic rival of Josie, is deathly allergic to pineapple. As the field’s sprinklers turn on, it all clicks for Josie and the fight club: Huntington poured pineapple juice into the water system in order to take out Jeff with a lethal dousing. What starts out as an attempt to protect the self-important Jeff turns into an all-out battle royale, which ends in the deaths of the Huntington players at the hands of PJ and Josie’s fight club.
Josie & Isabel Hook Up – But PJ & Brittany Don’t
In the opening scenes of Ayo Edebiri’s new comedy, audiences get a pretty solid idea of PJ and Josie’s friend dynamic. While PJ is relentless and bold in her pursuit of Brittany, Josie is more inclined to watch Isabel from afar and do nothing, which, as PJ points out, won’t get her anywhere. After a night out goes awry, PJ and Josie find themselves saving Isabel from Jeff. This starts the rivalry between the best friend duo and the Vikings’ football squad, but it also gives Josie a moment to connect with Isabel.
Although Josie is less than thrilled about going along with PJ’s ruse — that they fought and even killed people in juvie — she becomes much more committed to the bit when Isabel and Brittany show up at the club’s meeting. After a few classic will-they-won’t-they moments that define the best teen sex comedies, Josie and Isabel kiss and share a few tender moments. Meanwhile, PJ makes a move on Brittany, who shares she isn’t queer. A conflicted Josie can’t bring herself to reveal the truth, but, shortly after their hooking up begins, Tim publicizes the lies at school.
Feeling betrayed, Isabel isn’t interested in continuing a relationship built on a lie. Soon enough, PJ and Josie realize their falsehoods aren’t just damaging to their romantic pursuits, but to the rest of the club’s members as well. After the group gets back together to take out Huntington, their bonds grow stronger than before. In the film’s final moments, Isabel tells Josie she could’ve tried talking to her instead of forming a fight club to impress her. “I’m not actually sure that’s true,” Josie says before the two kiss, cementing their relationship. Even though PJ doesn’t end up with Brittany, the kiss she shares with Hazel (Ruby Cruz) is promising.
Why Josie & PJ Lied About Going To Juvie
When PJ and Josie first try to chat with Isabel and Brittany, they can barely get the cheerleaders’ attention. Not only are they awkward in a typical teenage way, but they don’t have anything interesting to connect with them about. The duo feel pretty confident that they’re thought of as losers by their classmates, so when a misunderstanding leaves them with an opening to appear more interesting, PJ seizes it, pretending she and Josie are former juvie inmates with violent pasts.
Sure enough, this attracts the interest of several girls at school, and they immediately join PJ and Josie’s group. Even Isabel and Brittany, who are nervous about the Huntington attacks, want to learn a thing or two about self-defense from PJ and Josie. At first, the best friends throw wayward punches at each other (and other willing volunteers) for clout. However, it does grow into a more legitimate pursuit. The members of the club don’t just hone their fighting skills; they become more confident and capable. Of course, the club also gives them a reason to spend time — and bond — with Isabel and Brittany.
The Real Meaning Of Bottoms’ Ending Explained
While Bottoms doesn’t have a post-credits scene, its ending has a lot to say. The film’s subversive, irreverent humor is only amplified by its frenetic pacing and laugh-a-minute energy. Moreover, even the most absurd details — one of the more agro football players stands in a classroom cage instead of sitting in a desk — are just accepted as fact by the characters. With this approach, Bottoms indulges in the most hilarious tropes of teen movies while also interrogating them. For example, Jeff’s sycophant team of football players are objects of worship for the whole town. However, it’s not the football players who have the power or confidence to save the day.
At the sight of pineapple juice, Jeff becomes the film’s damsel in distress, while the cheerleaders and self-proclaimed social rejects storm the field to fight on. The movie’s opening scenes are defined by Josie’s inaction; lacking in confidence, she can barely speak to Isabel. When Isabel rushes into Josie’s car to get away from Jeff, the fight club co-founder takes her first actionable step — however small — by tapping Jeff with her bumper. A preview of the ludicrous violence to come, it’s also a moment that draws Isabel’s attention and leaves Josie wanting more.
Throughout the film, Josie and the other’s violence is meant to be over the top. Funny at face value, these moments also lend to Josie’s confidence and help the fight club grow emotionally. The exaggerated grand finale, which sees them slaughtering the Huntington football team, is simply Bottoms underscoring its point: someone who’s passive can find their confidence in taking action. For Josie, this newfound strength allows her to connect with Isabel, form friendships, and grow as a human — though Bottoms also makes it clear she doesn’t need to lie in order to end up on top.
