TL;DR – This is a film that swims through the nostalgia of youth when significant changes are about to come, and you don’t know what the future might hold

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

My Old Ass Review –

Today, we look at a slightly sweet film that tries to ride the line between a bombastic juvenile comedy and a quieter coming-of-age work. It is a very fine line to walk because there is not a lot of safe ground between those two points. Indeed, I know people who have entirely disagreed on where this film landed. I think I am more in that first category, but that might be just because this film is laser-targeted on who I am.

So, to set the scene, Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) has just turned 18, and in just 22 days, she is going to leave the life she has lived on a lake in Canada harvesting cranberries on her family’s farm to move to the big city. But before she leaves, she wants to have one more trip with her friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) out to an island on the lake to camp, chat, and, oh, maybe dabble in some hallucinogenic mushroom. While her friends see many interesting things like rabbit orchestra, nothing quite prepares Elliott to look over and see her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) looking back at her. They talked about life and love, and her older self warned her not to fall in love with Chad. “Well, that was an odd trip”, thought Elliott, until she found Chad (Percy Hynes White) working on her dad’s farm as a summer farmhand. Oh, and someone put a new contact ‘My Old Ass’ in her phone.

Nearly all of this film only works as well as it did because the cast was perfectly created to make it work. I believed entirely that Elliott, Max (Seth Isaac Johnson), and Spencer (Carter Trozzolo) were siblings. They have this awkward connection that still feels real like they are tearing each other apart, but they instantly have each other’s backs if someone from the outside tries to mess. I mean, even if one of them is super into Little Women. While Aubrey Plaza is understandably front and centre, this is really Maisy Stella’s film, and she drives so much of the energy. She gives a performance that is just that right about of obnoxiousness, yet still revealing a vulnerability that connects you with the character. Also, we get strong supporting work from Aubrey, Kerrice, and Percy, all of whom help shape the world we find.   

Where My Old Ass works is in that exploration of time and space that exists after high school and before university. Do you stay in your small town and take over the family’s cranberry farm? Or do you run away to Toronto and escape into the big city to find a new life? Also, when you are old, looking back at your life and the choices you made, do you remember the tragedies along the way or respect how they have helped shape your life? As someone who is looking very close to that oncoming 40 looming in the not-too-far distance, it struck a chord with me. Also, I could not help but laugh when Elliott is mortified that Elliott is still a PhD student.  

However, My Old Ass is nearly all about the way we navigate that feeling of nostalgia or that fear of what is to come. If you don’t fit into one of the two groups presented by Elliott, then I don’t know how well the movie will play with you. Also, the film never really explains the rules that it is working with, which I am sure will frustrate a lot of people. They tip-toe around the future being quite dark, and I would have liked a little more clarity there. Finally, there is a sort of fractured/vignette feeling to the film rather than a whole, which I didn’t mind because it hit those emotional beats for me, but if that is not happening for you, then this will likely distance you further from the narrative.

In the end, do we recommend My Old Ass? I would with some reservations. If you’re at one of the ages Elliott is, then I think you will get a lot out of this film. If you’re not, well, then your mileage might vary. If you liked My Old Ass, we would recommend to you Aftersun.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of My Old Ass
Directed by – Megan Park
Written by – Megan Park
Music by – Tyler Hilton & Jaco Caraco
Cinematography by – Kristen Correll
Edited by – Jennifer Vecchiarello
Production/Distribution Companies – Indian Paintbrush, LuckyChap Entertainment, Scythia Films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon Prime, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring – Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Percy Hynes White, Maria Dizzia, Seth Isaac Johnson, Carter Trozzolo, Alain Goulem & Alexandria Rivera
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: 14a; Germany: na; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 15; United States: R