The Big Picture

My Old Ass is a coming-of-age film about appreciating the time we have and the people we love. The film explores the joy and melancholy of the last period before leaving home. Aubrey Plaza delivers an excellent performance in the film and has compelling interactions with the younger Elliott.

When we first meet Elliott (Maisy Stella) in Megan Park’s My Old Ass, she’s kind of a pain in the ass—but in the way all eighteen-year-olds are. In fact, it is her 18th birthday, and instead of spending time with her family, who is waiting around the dinner table with a homemade birthday cake, Elliott has decided to go into the woods and do mushrooms with her best friends (played by Maddie Ziegler and Kerrice Brooks). To a teenager, choosing friends over family isn’t much of a surprise, but it’s the type of decision that, in hindsight, might warrant a bit more consideration and care.

So when a high-on-mushrooms Elliott is visited by her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza), it’s that type of childish decision that the older version wants to correct. As the older Elliott says, “The only thing you can’t get back is time,” and with the younger Elliott only three weeks away from leaving for college, she decides to make the most of the advice from her “old ass.” With My Old Ass, writer-director Park creates a coming-of-age story that is quietly moving, heartwarming, and nostalgic, almost like a comedic version of Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, but, you know, with more Ray Romano jokes. In doing so, My Old Ass is one of the most delightful surprises to come out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

My Old Ass Elliott Labrant, who has been advised by her future self not to fall in love, is sure she can do so after being given the advice. That is, until she meets the boy her older self warned her about. Release Date January 20, 2024 Director Megan Park Runtime 88 minutes

‘My Old Ass’ Explores Making the Most of What Time You Have
Older Elliott has some simple advice from the future for young Elliott: enjoy the water she lives on (as she hints that water is scarce when she’s from), no one says “gagging” in the future, and spend more time with her family, including her mother (Maria Dizzia), her Saoirse Ronan-obsessed younger brother (Carter Trozzolo), and her older, golf-loving brother (Seth Isaac Johnson), who has shown interest in continuing the family’s cranberry farm. But most importantly, Elliott’s old ass warns her to stay away from a guy named Chad. The next day, Elliott meets a Chad (Percy Hynes White), who is working on their farm for the summer, and tries to keep her distance, but try as she might, there’s something about this guy that draws her in. This is especially concerning to Elliott since she’s only shown interest in girls so far, and the possibility of Chad is a big jolt to who she thought she was.

Despite it’s high-concept, Park handles My Old Ass with a careful, reined-in hand. This isn’t a film about the younger Elliott trying to change her future via the advice of the older Elliott, but rather, a hangout film about not taking for granted what we have and being grateful for the moments that we do have with the ones we love. Much of My Old Ass is restrained, simply watching young Elliott as she gets to know her family in a way she’s ignored for the last eighteen years, and discovering how much she loves where she came from before her life irrevocably changes.

‘My Old Ass’ Is a Beautifully Handled Story of Youth From Two Perspectives

My Old Ass is the first feature for Stella, and in the lead role, she is just the right mixture of an annoying teenager and young adult keenly aware she should heed the advice of her old ass. Park’s film is trying to capture the idea of that last period before leaving home, and Stella’s performance wonderfully captures the joy of youth and the melancholy of getting exactly what you want while realizing it’s not what you expected.

Much of My Old Ass centers around the budding relationship between Elliott and Chad, and White matches Stella’s enthusiasm and youthfulness. Even though older Elliott makes getting close to Chad a warning, Park’s writing and directing are clearly as in love with Chad as Elliott is becoming, making it easy to see that regardless of caution from the past, there’s no way she could get out of that tractor beam. Together, Stella and White are charming, to the point that it’s just enough to watch them play off each other, flirting, and playing in the lake.

This is also an excellent performance from Plaza, and while she doesn’t get much screen time, her interactions with the younger Elliott are the film’s best moments. While their scenes together are often comedic, with amusing banter full of self-awareness, it’s their final scene that makes My Old Ass into something truly special. In a mostly lighthearted movie, this climax is an emotional reckoning of knowing what is to come and still moving forward regardless. In this scene, Plaza has to convince her younger self of the truth, while also accepting that she can’t change the past, and Plaza portrays all of this through knowing glimpses and a quiet understanding that is both shattering and cathartic in equal measure.

Park’s writing and directing make this a playful coming-of-age tone, but also with the awareness that we can’t hold on to the moments that we don’t want to lose. There’s a sadness to that idea inherently, but also a beauty to it—as though every day is something that we should appreciate and delight in. That mixture of beauty and sadness is palpable, a perfect atmosphere for the last days of summer and the last days at home. Park’s story has all the makings of a future coming-of-age favorite for both 18-year-olds ready to make their way in the world, and 39-year-olds nostalgic for the merits of youth. It’s quite a beautiful accomplishment for Park, and between this and her last film, 2021’s The Fallout, she’s shown a true gift for capturing teenage life and all that entails. My Old Ass manages to show youth from two different perspectives in an endearing and sympathetic way and shows that Park is a remarkable talent that can capture intricate, hard-to-present ideas with ease.

My Old Ass REVIEWMy Old Ass is a delightful second feature from Megan Park, with a powerful performance by Aubrey Plaza in this film about nostalgia and youth. ProsMegan Park shows she excels at telling youthful stories with care and consideration. In a relatively small part, Aubrey Plaza shines as she looks back at her teenage years. My Old Ass is an intricate concept handled with a simplicity and love that makes it all work beautifully.

My Old Ass had its World Premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.