This movie is an acquired taste. At first, I thought it was just silly. Then I thought it was extremely silly. Eventually I laughed my butt off. There is no scene that they don't take over the top. Whether they are mocking teen movies or parodying David Fincher or using Marshawn Lynch to comment on feminism, the entire cast completely goes for it. The humor and raunchiness are extreme, but my family laughed so much that I think we missed 25% of the punchlines. Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott absolutely kill this one (no pun intended).

PSA - Just be careful watching this one with your parents or children. It is rated R for a reason.

I really can't score this movie any lower than a nine. Not only was it my style of humor, it was able to stay entertaining all the way to the end. No third act deflation! And on top of being funny for the entire runtime, I enjoyed the story. I actually thought it had a plot that drew me in and gave me a highly satisfying resolution. I appreciated the fact that there were so many ridiculous details that it was almost like this movie was set in an alternate universe. For me, it kept the balance exactly right. Wild, but with some grounded elements to keep me caring about the characters. I think this could become one of my favorite comedies of all time. I don't know how many other people I would show it to, because I think the humor was extremely subjective, but I treasured it.

The "teen movie" is making a comeback, and the latest from Emma Seligman (of 2021's Shiva Baby) is one of the funniest, wildest, and most delightfully ridiculous in recent memory.

I certainly liked it better than last year's Do Revenge, which harkened back to the Jawbreaker era (and was only at points funny); this one has been described in similar terms, but perhaps more so as a modernized Animal House, or a John Hughes film where the girls take center stage and get to be the weirdo freaks and outcasts with schemes to get laid (still with girls) and attain popularity. Of course, then there's the crucial Fight Club call-back when a self-defense group is formed to help the female students at Rockbridge Falls protect themselves from the kind of movie jocks that never take off their shoulder pads even when having sex. (Even as I've tried to describe this plot, I defy you to try to predict where it winds up.)

Bottoms also continues the trend of making everyone fall in love with Rachel Sennott, whose face is becoming more and more prominent in my kino circles -- this may even be her absolute most hilarious performance. Her co-star Ayo Edebiri (another name I'm glad to be seeing more and more of lately), is similarly on-point, same with the various co-stars, all of them firing on all silly cylinders and bringing chaotic energy to even the most laid-back performances.

Every single person here seems to be having the time of their lives. It reminded me a bit of the energy in Barbie, only this one is -- in the best possible sense -- a lot more unhinged.

Its influences are many, as I said (one of its more "early 2000s" elements is the Avril Lavigne needle drop, which is up there with the Bonnie Tyler sequence as one of the most glorious and hilarious moments in the movie), but this is a film that does something truly special with its homages and love letters. I rarely say things like this, but if this movie spawns a bunch of sequels, where these characters go on Scooby-Doo-style adventures, say, or otherwise start playing around with other genre tropes in outrageous ways, I won't complain. This is a universe I'd love to see more of. We don't get many of those.

I understand that many people on here hated this. But since most of the complaints seem to be coming from the same faint-of-heart Zoomers who lost their minds over the content in No Hard Feelings (because an upbringing saturated with sexless Marvel movies will do that to you), I feel like I've made the right call here.