By Brian Susbielles

Upon turning eighteen years of age, we all become legal adults and prepare for life beyond home. We rebel from our parents and want to be more alone and with our friends, especially when it comes to dabbling with recreational drugs and having sex with a partner. It’s a common theme with teen films and what happens at that age, especially with college right around the corner, and it usually turns into a sex comedy. But not here with My Old Ass. Instead, it is less about sex and more about living in the time.

In Ontario, Elliott (Maisy Stella) is days away from going to college in Toronto, long from the farm she has lived at with her parents and two younger brothers. After getting lucky kissing the local barista girl, Elliott and her two best friends, Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler), spend the night on Elliott’s birthday on an island camping overnight and trying shrooms. As Ro and Ruthie enjoy their trip, Elliott is given a shock when a woman claiming to be her older self twenty years later (Aubrey Plaza) appears. After not necessarily saying she is going to be completely successful with kids at age thirty-nine, older Elliot gives a warning to her younger self: stay away from Chad.

Surprise, surprise, Elliott goes skinny dipping into a lake and swims right into a charming young lad named Chad (Percy Hynes White), working for the summer at Elliott’s farm. Finding a contact in her phone listed as, “MY OLD ASS,” Elliott connects with the older version of herself who tells her what not to do with Chad, referring to meeting him as the biggest regret of her life. As time goes on, however, it becomes obvious that there is a mutual attraction, and with no exact reason given as to why she should stay away from Chad, younger Elliott gets closer with him. The young and stupid again ignoring the advice of the old and wise, right?

In her sophomore feature after The Fallout, writer/director Megan Park makes a wise coming-of-age story about what us adults now approaching forty (or older) would tell our teenage selves to avoid and what us at eighteen would feel. It is about regret for lost time and the things being missed getting older, such as not being there enough with family. So there is no total explanation for the communication between the generations by phone. It’s easy to ignore because it feels right anyway. For Stella, known for her work in the TV series Nashville, she is fantastic and Plaza being the older Elliott may not exactly be Stella’s perfect doppelganger twenty years older, but the chemistry is perfect. 

My Old Ass is a funny, smart, and surprisingly touching story. It is Back To The Future without the crazy scientist and one that is more poignant for reflecting about the last days of youth. What comes out is a sense of place where viewers can feel part of this point in life and the reflection to the characters about these little moments that carry on for years after. The movie was certainly made for Sundance where it debuted, but it comes out to give a sudden emotional jolt in the third act to put it all in perspective on how life should be. 

4/5 stars

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