By As a nearly middle-aged man that has a ton of regrets when it comes to past decisions and actions, My Old Ass seemed tailor-made for me. The very concept of the story, which involves a young girl tripping on drugs and getting to speak with an older version of herself, is an idea pretty much everyone has had at one point or another (maybe minus the drugs). Who wouldn’t want to talk directly to their younger self and warn them of certain actions that led down a dark path?
My Old Ass isn’t quite about that, though. Instead, it plays things from the younger perspective and asks its audiences, “What would you ask your older self?” That reversal is key as it shifts the demographic this film is aiming for. Do younger people fear the future now, or is the same desire to avoid negative energy a real concern for Gen Zers?
Whichever way you answer that question, one thing is for sure: My Old Ass successfully manages to cross its generational divide and spins a tale that will not only give younger people a lot to consider but older folks a reason to reflect on their lives and smile.
My Old Ass
Director: Megan Park
Release Date: January 20, 2024 (Sundance), September 13, 2024 (Limited)
Rating: R
My Old Ass starts from the perspective of Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) hanging out with her friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) on her 18th birthday. With just 22 days until she moves away for college, Elliott wants to make this a summer to remember and proceeds to blow off her family to go take drugs with her friends in the woods. After ingesting some mushrooms and watching as her friends trip out, Elliott eventually starts seeing an older, 39-year-old version of herself (Aubrey Plaza) who proceeds to lay some advice on her.
While there are a ton of themes and stories at play in My Old Ass, the main gist of the plot lies in one thing older Elliott tells her younger self: stay away from any guys named Chad. For Elliott, that seems pretty obvious as she is gay. She just worked up the courage to ask her crush out and has never been interested in guys. Little does she know, however, that her family just hired a young guy named Chad (Percy Hynes White) to tend to the family cranberry farm while Elliott gets ready for college. Almost as if the hands of fate have something else in store, Elliott finds herself becoming attracted to Chad and can’t quite reconcile what her “old ass” has told herself.
I’m generalizing a bit to avoid spoilers and specifics, but My Old Ass isn’t just about this love story. As with any other coming-of-age movie, the film deals with a transitionary period in one’s life where one crosses the threshold into adulthood and starts to view the world differently. When we’re first introduced to Elliott, she isn’t on the best terms with her family. She doesn’t hate them, per se, but she would rather do her own thing and has taken for granted the love she has at home. This changes when older Elliott tells her to spend more time with her brothers and especially her mother.
© Amazon MGM Studios
While Elliott is trying to figure out what the entire deal with Chad is, we see her spending time with and getting to know her brothers Max (Seth Isaac Johnson) and Spencer (Carter Trozzolo). For a long time, Max assumed Elliott hated him, but by watching as he golfs, Elliott gets to learn that even Max has aspirations beyond inheriting the family business. Spencer is maybe a bit too young to be planning his future, but he also enjoys his sister’s presence and is delighted to engage with her beyond simple gestures at dinner.
One major theme that comes up is the idea that as we age, we tend to forget the very last time we did one particular thing. As Elliott is bonding with Chad on a quiet boat ride, Chad lays out his philosophy on how humans take the majority of their lives for granted. I don’t remember the exact wording, but he asks Elliott if she remembers the very final time as a kid that she went out with her friends and played make-believe. He thinks it’s kind of sad that one day, kids come home, rack their bikes in their garages, and then go to bed without realizing they will never be carefree again. They never had the chance to savor that goodbye to youth as they didn’t even know it was happening.
This idea comes to a head when Elliott is speaking with her mother (Maria Dizzia) one night. Her mother recounts how with Elliott soon to be heading off into the world, it reminds her of the first night that baby Elliott slept alone. She recalled how fussy Elliott always was, but then one night she turned to her mother and said, “Crib,” then proceeded to go to sleep without a sound. Elliott’s mother was simultaneously proud of her and sad at the moment, happy that her daughter was becoming strong but sad that she would never be able to hold her again.
© Amazon MGM Studios
It’s very powerful stuff, carried especially by the acting of the cast. Maisy Stella, in particular, captures that Gen Z energy that makes me scratch my head in elder disbelief. She’s simultaneously fearless while also being clueless and it’s a stark reminder of a time when I felt I knew everything about the world. I wish I could have received wisdom from my older self to change certain aspects of my life years ago.
That highlights a few of the lacking aspects of My Old Ass, though. As a film dedicated entirely to Elliott’s self-discovery, the supporting cast doesn’t get much time to shine. Her brothers feature more than her friends, but her mom and dad don’t even have names in the film. They merely exist as vessels for this plot to pass on wisdom and create touching moments.
The same can be said of older Elliott. While I appreciate that Aubrey Plaza, a well-established and popular actor in her own right, doesn’t steal the spotlight, I expected a bit more from her inclusion. Elliott sees her in the beginning and then somehow can call and text her with some unexplained magic that transcends time and space. Older Elliott appears again in the finale and beautifully wraps the story up, but certain unexplained and lingering ideas nearly took me out of the story.
© Amazon MGM Studios
At the same time, the plot is not the most important aspect of My Old Ass… or any movie, for that matter. While some details would maybe help ground My Old Ass better and more time given to its supporting cast would help it feel more realistic instead of being merely a parable, I can’t say I was disappointed with anything here. There’s even a rather hilarious Justin Bieber tribute in the middle of the film that I will not spoil.
No, director Megan Park cuts right to the essence of what her story is with the screenplay here and that’s wonderful. Instead of beating around the bush with needless padding or dragging out the runtime to hit some coveted two-hour mark, My Old Ass plants the seeds of intrigue in the beginning with its unique hook and lets the tree grow over its 89-minute runtime. By the end, you have a wisdom tree full of knowledge, love, and heart that should make anyone with a beating heart feel as if their own life isn’t so bad.
Not to drag this review out, but one last tidbit from me. When Older Elliott finally reveals why she told her younger self to avoid Chad, younger Elliott’s response nearly acted as a form of closure for a past relationship I had. As multiple scenes in the movie continuously reinforce, we should be grateful to live this life and feel any kind of pain because it means we once had immense happiness. Sure, things don’t always work out, but that doesn’t mean the joy we felt in the moment is any less true or real. It also doesn’t mean that life is over and happiness will never come again.
