In a charming coming of age tale, a free-spirited 18-year-old woman comes face-to-face with her older self in My Old Ass, starring Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza. Steve Newall’s old ass loved it.
What would you do if you had the chance to meet your older self? Would you (a) confirm that amazing things lie just around the corner; (b) solicit investment advice to game the financial system and get rich; or (c) try and make out with yourself? When a mushroom trip lets 18-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) and 39-year-old Elliott (Aubrey Plaza) hang out together in My Old Ass, the answer is (d) try to do all of the above—and then some.
The younger Elliott is counting down the days before she leaves her small town existence, dreaming of big city life and a bright future, and vowing never to return. Elliott’s best days are ahead of her, thinks the 18-year-old—like many of our younger selves, failing to see that perhaps the recklessness of youth is something that we’ll miss as our lives accumulate adult responsibilities.
Like many a late teen fleeing the nest, Elliott is prioritising spending time with friends over family, determined to seal the deal and hook up with her longtime crush before leaving town. Oh, and go camping and drink a bunch of mushroom tea with her mates.
It’s sitting around the campfire, as her pals start tripping balls—while Elliott herself is determined that she is feeling no such psychedelic effects—that she turns to find her 39-year-old self sitting next to her. Psilocybin sure holds some awesome potential in My Old Ass, both in allowing this cosmologically unlikely event and elsewhere facilitating a more traditionally Hollywood tripping sequence, including some riotous Justin Bieber references. (Note: Flicks cannot officially encourage or condone such recreational activities).
The younger Elliott is rightly sceptical about the arrival of her older self. And, anticipating the audience response when seeing Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza side by side, My Old Ass is quick to poke fun at the differences in their appearance—in a way that speaks directly to the film’s premise. That gap in Plaza’s teeth? “Wear your retainer” she tells her younger self.
But My Old Ass wastes little time in having its characters resist the reality of their unlikely meeting. As the effects of the mushroom trip recede overnight, the duo have bonded—and shocked each other a little with what they’ve seen in each other.
The younger Elliott is less than thrilled to learn that at 39 she’ll be studying for a phD (or be “a mature student” as the youngster dismissively puts it). And she rightly locates a sense of sadness in her older self, one that an older viewer might just attribute to life miles traveled—though, as future Elliott notes, she doesn’t want to share too much.
We don’t glean a lot about the world of the future—though it might not be too rosy (casual references to species extinction, population control and unspecified emergencies abound). Plaza’s version of Elliott is more focused on helping her younger self navigate her final weeks at home—counselling a better relationship with her family and more appreciation for these final moments before venturing out into the world.
If there’s one thing older Elliott can’t emphasise enough though—it’s to stay away from a guy called Chad.
Seems easy enough, reckons the younger Elliott—not least of all as she identifies as being gay, and (minor spoiler alert) has succeeded in hooking up with the girl of her small town dreams. But you don’t need to be an expert in human nature (or movie plotting) to know that things are going to get complicated when Elliott shortly meets that exact Chad (Percy Hynes White). Like the easy chemistry between the two Elliotts, these two bounce off each other on screen with evident enthusiasm.
Lest you write off Plaza’s participation in the film to a campsite cameo, the older Elliott cannily leaves contact info in her younger self’s phone (as “My Old Ass”, naturally)—and unlikely as it may seem, the two are able to stay in touch even when in their respective time periods. It’s a nifty device that sees a bond between present and future form—but it also poses interesting questions about how the priorities and responsibilities of such a relationship might work. Like a less cynical version of The Substance, the two have very different ideas about life and how to live it—but they do remain one, even across the years.
It’s a narrative device (and character predicament) that provides the foundation for a satisfying, romantic and bittersweet coming of age story. Uniformly superb performances help carry the premise, and there’s a frequent low key sassy humour that grounds the film’s characters in ways that ring true. I was impressed, too, by the gentleness of the storytelling—ok, in all honesty, I did shed a tear, but this felt earned by a film that offers a patient and grounded take on an absurd scenario.
My old ass? I loved it.
