A unique spin on the coming-of-age movie, My Old Ass is funny and packs an unexpected emotional punch.
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One of the most common "would you rather" questions is some version of "would you take this insane amount of money now, or be able to go back in time and talk to your younger self?" It's fun hypothetical with a very human thought which is...man I wish I could've talked young me out of doing xyz thing. Life would be so much better now. Which brings us to My Old Ass, where Aubrey Plaza gets to mentor the college-bound version of herself.
The Setup
The film centers around Elliott, a girl who decides to celebrate her 18th birthday with...a mushroom trip, before she goes to college and leaves her sleepy town forever. But said trip brings something completely unexpected, the 39 year-old version of Elliott who decides to take advantage of the opportunity and guide her younger self to a more fulfilling life.
My Old Ass crept up on me. In a good way. And a lot of that has to do with the movie's main gimmick and idea. So let's get into why this works so well.
The movie's premise is that Elliott's drug trip has opened a doorway to her 39 year-old self, which includes...being able to text with "My Old Ass," and she's also been given some instructions about things that she should do including bond with family a bit more and avoid a boy she's starting to crush on (which is kinda a big deal for Elliott who has been interested in girls for forever).
So we have a lot of the coming-of-age lessons we'd expect from a movie like this, with the novel twist that Elliott essentially taught them to herself. There's also lingering mystery about why older Elliott made those recommendations/demands which start to come to a head as the chemistry between Elliott and her new crush Chad continues to grow.
One of the reasons I like this so much is that there's little to no resistance from younger Elliott at first. She's taking herself at her word and almost all of her every changes are paying off. She quickly develops a connection with her brother (that she didn't have before) and takes time to bond with her parents. At the same time, she's trying to figure out what her attraction to Chad means, especially for a young woman who has never been interested in men before (a semi-novel spin that's refreshing to say the least).
But don't worry, none of this is as heavy as I'm making it sound. The movie is actually very light, for the most part, and moves at a solid joke-a-minute pace whether it's having fun with its premise (i.e. 39 year-old Elliott saying "enjoy that" about certain kinds of food and places) or extended drug trips and other adolescent misadventures.
Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza are perfect casting as the older and younger Elliott. Stella has a ton of natural charisma and youthful energy and can still hit the emotional highs and lows as needed while Plaza can counter with a more experienced version of the sarcasm she sharpened during Parks & Recreation.
Likewise Megan Park dazzles both as writer and director making the most of her wooded small town location to incur peak summer nostalgia vibes, while also getting great comedic performances out of the whole cast.
So what made this movie sneak up on me? Because eventually, old Elliott is going to have to learn a lesson too. The main appeal of coming-of-age movies is the thrill of watching a young person, be young and make obvious mistakes, hopefully learn from them and move on a little wiser. And even if the mistakes are obvious they're not yours. But if they were yours and you could tap into your past self, what would you undo? And could you undo it? Is that healthy? These are questions that are brewing in the movie's background which means there's an easy in-road for almost every audience member. Either you remember being young or you know how you feel now and you relate to older Elliott. And as someone almost older Elliott's age, the movie hits all of the right emotional notes.
The Verdict: My Old Ass Loved It
A unique spin on the coming-of-age movie, My Old Ass is funny and packs an unexpected emotional punch. 8/10
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