The Success of 'Bottoms' in the Box Office and the Importance of Supporting Indie Gay Teen Films

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that wants the ugly, untalented gays to please report to the principal’s office.

This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) talk about the 2023 instant cult classic Bottoms for this Lez-ssentials episode, a recurring segment on the essential movies and TV shows in the lesbian canon. This film had an incredibly limited theatrical run, but still managed to end up with an astounding (and well-deserved) 90% critic-score on Rotten Tomatoes. If you have not had a chance to watch Bottoms yet, we highly recommend renting it before listening to this episode, as it’s honestly just so much more fun to go in with as little information as possible. 

Bottoms is a wildly queer and campy teen movie a la American Pie and SuperBad. Unlike its straighter counterparts, this film flips a lot of the stereotypes on their heads in a way that we really love. Main character PJ is actually pretty terrible. She’s constantly objectifying every girl she sees and lying more often than she tells the truth, and yet, we are totally here for it! Her bestie Josie is not far behind her in the making completely crazy decisions department as she spends the entire first half of the movie lying through her teeth about literally killing other kids in juvie (spoiler alert: neither of these ‘ugly, untalented gays’ was ever in juvie). 

No matter how chaotic Bottoms seems at first, it is still a shock to see just how far the movie takes things. Sure, we knew the girls were going to create a fight club, but nothing about that premise could have prepared us for the absolute massacre that is the ending. The violence ramps up throughout the story- a broken nose here, a car bombing there; each incident slowly getting the audience more and more acclimated to the off-the-rails violence until it becomes totally plausible that these teenage girls are just full-on publically murdering football players left and right. This film holds back exactly 0 punches all while managing to keep the main characters relatable enough that they speak to the baby gay in us all. 

At the end of the episode, stick around to hear our original song based on Bottoms, “Going Down Swinging”, written by Leigh Holmes Foster and produced by Ellie Brigida. Join us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon for instant access to mp3 downloads of all our original songs or find us on Bandcamp to purchase songs individually.

Follow along on Twitter: Lez Hang Out (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay at the end of every episode. Leigh Holmes Foster (@lshfoster) and Ellie Brigida (@elliebrigida). You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and follow along on Instagram (@lezhangoutpod).

This is your last chance to join Ellie and Leigh in Costa Rica this May for a queer wellness retreat. Don’t let future-you suffer from fomo! Book a spot by January 30th at bit.ly/lezdocostarica and treat yourself to a once in a lifetime experience, new friendships, and some much deserved relaxation in a beautiful National Park. 

You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of perks like access to our exclusive Discord community, monthly full length bonus episodes (including a brand new one on Will and Grace), weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by checking out our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop. 

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