Rachel Sennott as PJ and Ayo Edebiri as Josie in a scene from "Bottoms." (Photo courtesy of Orion Pictures)
Let's hear it for the outcasts, the noncorformists and the rebels. They don't fit the mold, and nine times out of ten, that's exactly the way they like it, in real life and on the big screen.
Two comedies that were released in theaters on this quiet Labor Day weekend at the movies amp up the quirk factor. There's no doubt the filmmakers behind them march to the beat of their own drum, whether the setting is a cartoonishly unrealistic high school or the Isle of Man in the late 1930s
This is all well and good, but do these movies actually work? Let's take a closer look.
“Bottoms”: At first glance, PJ and Josie, the ne'er-do-well buddies at the center of this caustic romp, are the kind of teenage duo that capture this critic's twisted heart: unvarnished, messy and relentlessly profane. They've been besties since first grade, and now that they're high school seniors, the two young lesbians are looking to score. (Did I mention they're a horny pair?)
Ayo Edebiri as Josie, Rachel Sennott as PJ, Zamani Wilder as Annie, Summer Joy Campbell as Sylvie, Havana Rose Liu as Isabel and Kaia Gerber as Brittany in a scene from "Bottoms." (Photo courtesy of Orion Pictures)
PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri from the Hulu series “The Bear”) actually get in a pickle shortly after “Bottoms,” the sophomore effort of “Shiva Baby” director Emma Seligman, gets underway. The trouble, involving entitled, butthurt football star Jeff (“Red, White & Royal Blue's” Nicholas Galitzine) and his cheerleader girlfriend Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), lands them in the principal's office.
The two friends smart-talk their way out of expulsion by concocting a cockamamie extracurricular activity: a self-defense class for female students. But we know what the ulterior motive for this fight club is. A motley crew of students show up for PJ and Josie's half-assed lessons in butt-kicking. Do this duo at the bottom of Rockbridge Falls High School's social totem pole have what it takes to go from unpopular to badass?
I was rooting for “Bottoms” to be a winning spin on the underdog tale, but the film is strong coffee from the get-go: grating and garish and loud but rarely funny. It's the cinematic equivalent of an obnoxious kid screaming in your face for 90 minutes. Alleged zingers land with a thud, despite a committed cast's best efforts to sell Seligman's black-and-blue brand of comedy.
Nicholas Galitzine as Jeff in a scene from "Bottoms." (Photo courtesy of Orion Pictures)
Part of the problem is that “Bottoms” fashions itself a darkly humorous portrait of high school in the vein of “Heathers,” but it slavishly adheres to the beats in a cookie-cutter buddy comedy. For instance, an ill-advised lie that PJ and Josie spent the summer in juvie spreads like wildfire in the school, and Seligman leans so heavily on it that the viewer spends half of the running time waiting for the other shoe to drop.
This story wrinkle turns out to be wholly unnecessary, because when “Bottoms” stops spinning its narrative wheels, it comes to life, albeit only in sporadic moments. Galitzine, for instance, makes a compelling sniveling jock, and Josie's dogged pursuit of her longtime crush Isabel ends up being touching and surprisingly nuanced, probably more than this movie deserves.
But “Bottoms” is simply too much, its lame quotient distressingly high. It doesn't help that Sennott, who co-wrote the screenplay with Seligman, isn't able to make her character relatable the way Edebiri does. Sennott, so good in “Shiva Baby,” dives right into her role, but the absurdism in “Bottoms” is too leaden, its raunch not nearly frisky enough. It amounts to a spastic stumble.
Gary Beadle as Errol, Tim Downie as Mr. Irving, Minnie Driver as Anne and Simon Pegg as Nandor Fodor in a scene from "Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose." (Photo courtesy of Saban Films)
“Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose”: Did you hear the one about the paranormal psychologist dead set on debunking claims of a talking critter, only to get more than he bargained for? That description sums up this quirky period comedy with a handful of familiar faces, a picturesque setting and tons of affection for its characters.
Nandor, played with befuddled gusto by Simon Pegg, was a real-life authority in paranormal phenomena. But as writer-director Adam Sigal's film begins, the Hungarian-born journalist and psychologist, a one-time associate of Sigmund Freud, appears to be going through an existential crisis. The London resident, a skeptic who nevertheless wants to believe, has also been hitting the bottle, much to the consternation of his assistant Anne (Minnie Driver).
But then Anne calls his attention to a letter he received concerning Mr. Irving (Tim Downie), a farmer on the Isle of Man, who claims to have befriended the titular animal, called Gef, a claim apparently backed up by townspeople who say they have spotted, or at least heard him. His curiosity piqued, Nandor consults with his colleague, Dr. Harry Price (Christopher Lloyd), who recounts a near brush with the creature.
Simon Pegg as Nandor Fodor and Minnie Driver as Anne in a scene from "Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose." (Photo courtesy of Saban Films)
Thus Nandor and Anne set off, Nandor intent on exposing yet another hoax, Anne genuinely intrigued by Irving's claim. A lesser film would have accentuated fish-out-of-water antics, but Sigal is much too gentle a storyteller to fall into that trap. Despite the outlandish premise, extensively covered by British tabloids at the time, there's an unassuming sincerity to “Nandor Fodor” that offsets a preciousness that could have curdled the material.
And I still haven't gotten to the best part. The (alleged) voice of Gef belongs to Neil Gaiman, and it's evident the “Coraline” and “American Gods” author, also known for voicing audiobooks, is having a field day as the impish yet shy mongoose who quotes Yeats and seems to know secrets. The ensuing clash between scientific endeavor and rural whimsy plays like a Kyle Baker comic book come to life, with distinct “Drunk History” vibes and a dash of Bill Forsyth's “Local Hero” thrown in for good measure.
Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Harry Price and Simon Pegg as Nandor Fodor in a scene from "Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose." (Photo courtesy of Saban Films)
If there is something that holds the movie back, it's Sigal's penchant for long, drawn-out scenes that tend to go beyond what feels like a natural endpoint. There's something static about some of the extended exchanges of ideas depicted here. But this tendency doesn't dilute the movie's charm.
Pegg may be the straight man here, but he's still a hoot, even when his accent veers too close to the U.S. (Nandor lived in New York for some time) and only occasionally sounds Eastern European. His two scenes with Lloyd, ideally cast here, made this movie geek very happy. It is one of several pleasures in this modest, dorky and handsomely mounted odd bird of a movie. “Nandor Fodor” may not work all the time, and its payoff is awfully muted, but it is also the kind of acquired taste that comes along all too seldom. In other words, this is the good kind of weird.
“Bottoms” is now showing in wide release, including at Regal South Beach, CMX Brickell City Centre and AMC Sunset Place. “Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose” is now showing at O Cinema South Beach and AMC Aventura.
