When college-bound Elliot takes shrooms on a friends’ camping trip, she hallucinates a conversation of her future self, played with acidic charm by Aubrey Plaza. The future Elliot won’t tell her which hot stocks to invest in – for fear of butterfly effecting her younger self – but she does issue a single warning: avoid some dude named Chad. Also, spend more time with her family. Post-trip, Elliot encounters none other than some dude named Chad, a shaggy but sweet summer hand on her family farm, and despite the warnings—and the fact that she had believed herself to be a lesbian—she promptly starts falling for him in Megan Park’s sweet-natured and emotionally-stirring dramedy My Old Ass.
Park, who exploded onto the scene with her electric SXSW debut The Fallout, further hones her skill as a purposeful coming-of-age storyteller. The Canadian actor-turned-writer-director orients her sophomore feature film around the question: what would you ask your older self? It’s an age-old thought experiment that’s handled with a blend of sardonic elbow-nudging and genuine pathos under Park’s watch. There’s an air of magical realism to My Old Ass that feeds into its being both charming without being saccharine, ruminative but not bogged down in the details.
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Elliot suffers a typical case of “can’t wait to get out of this place”-itis, having already decided against taking ownership of the family’s third-generation cranberry bog and looking forward to going to the University of Ontario in just three short weeks. She ignores her mom’s calls, dismisses her kind-of-lame brothers, and is so busy looking forward that she’s forgotten the call of gratitude. It’s only with the wisdom of time that one realizes that when you leave a place, you can never truly go back. Chad underscores this idea in a conversation where he asks Elliot if she remembers the final time she played make-believe with her friends. She doesn’t. We rarely mark the end of a life phase with ceremony because we don’t realize there’s no going back until it’s already gone.
[READ MORE: Our review of Megan Park’s ‘The Fallout‘ starring Jenna Ortega]
As the film delves deeper into the Elliots – junior and senior – and Chad, it becomes increasingly entrancing. Though Plaza’s teetering-on-40 self won’t reveal too much about what’s to come in their future, she implores her younger self to take stock of what matters, to appreciate the little things, to stop and smell the roses—also, to keep up a good skin care routine and wear her retainer. She won’t expand on why Chad should be avoided, but as his charms become increasingly unavoidable, older Elliot’s warning takes a backseat to younger Elliot’s more carefree impulses.
Maisy Stella is a revelation as the younger Elliot, effortlessly juggling the comedic and dramatic demands of the role with her charming, lackadaisical demeanor. The breakout star shares palpable chemistry with Plaza (who at one point she asks to kiss, just so she could know what it was like to kiss herself) and Percy Hynes White’s alluring and angular Chad. Sharp writing and electric performances allow My Old Ass to straddle the line between dramatic romance and playful genre conceit, tying a bow on its ideas while delivering—as the kids would say—on the vibes.
What might first be mistaken for slight blossoms into a thoughtful treatise on appreciation, infused with a healthy dose of charm. At just over 90 minutes, the film’s thematic current of living in the moment gives Park’s romantic drama clear purpose while retaining enough Plaza-approved snark to roughen up the heartfelt edges. It’s a delight to behold and an experience best shared with those you love most.
CONCLUSION: A well-acted and poignant piece of coming-of-age filmmaking, ‘My Old Ass’ uses a genre conceit to explore the concept of do-overs and living in the moment. Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, and Aubrey Plaza all rule the screen.
B+
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By: Matt Oakes
Started blogging about film in college when the university paper wouldn’t have him. Dislikes your consensus film Twitter favorites. Devotee of horror movies that make him die a little inside. Catches films at festivals when he can. Proud SFCS and OFCS member and Tomatometer-approved critic. Editor-in-chief of Silver Screen Riot.
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