My Old Ass

by Mike McGranaghan

Sometimes a movie comes along at just the right moment in your life. My dad died unexpectedly six weeks ago. A few days afterward, I realized that I didn’t remember our last interaction. It was surely a routine encounter when I picked my son up from my parents’ house. Had I known that would be the last time we’d speak, I would have savored the moment. A character in My Old Ass has a monologue about those things in life that end without us realizing it. The story deals with the importance of living in the present and appreciating the people around you to the fullest at all times. This is a wonderful film that I would have enjoyed no matter what, but if you can relate to what I’m talking about, I promise it will hit you as hard as it hit me.

Elliott (Maisy Stella) is the college-bound daughter of a cranberry farmer who can’t wait to get away from home. As a celebration, she and friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) boat over to a small island where they ingest hallucinogenic mushrooms. Elliott’s trip finds the 39-year-old version of herself (played by Aubrey Plaza) mysteriously appearing. The experience seems like an awesome effect of the drugs.

But it’s not a temporary thing. The two can communicate by phone once the trip is over. Older Elliott offers her younger self important pieces of advice. One is to spend more time with her parents and brothers before going off to school. The other is to avoid anyone named Chad at all costs. When a guy named Chad (Percy Hynes White) arrives on the scene, she finds herself falling for him, despite the warning. Elliott’s romantic feelings come as a shock to her, considering she’s gay.

My Old Ass gets its title from how older Elliott adds herself as a contact in her younger self’s cell phone. Early scenes in the movie are hilarious, as the character tries to extract information about the future, only to be repeatedly stonewalled. Her initial efforts to avoid Chad are humorous, too, given that she hasn’t been told why he’s bad news. Running parallel to that are several sweet sequences showing Elliott taking the advice to devote quality time to her family, realizing that she’s going to miss them in the process.

Then comes the third act. I’m not even going to hint at what transpires, except to say that writer/director Megan Park ties everything together in a manner that’s emotional, poignant, and guaranteed to leave you with a lump in your throat. What starts off as a raucous comedy morphs into a profound statement about seizing the day and remembering that having people to love is a gift that should never be squandered. Park’s screenplay is especially inventive in how both versions of Elliott end up learning something from each other.

Driving the movie is a star-making performance from Maisy Stella. Not since Emilia Jones in CODA has a young actress seemed to explode off the screen with such force. Her comedic timing is impeccable, as is her ability to convey the varied feelings Elliott goes through over the course of her journey. She infuses the character with a bit of a punk attitude to appealingly roughen the edges. Stella does outstanding work, playing nicely off the also terrific Aubrey Plaza.

My Old Ass is hysterically funny at times, heartbreaking at others, and ultimately inspiring. The movie thoroughly entertains, then makes you want to go and give a long, tight hug to everybody you love – a hug you’ll be sure to absorb every second of.

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