MY OLD ASS
(director/writer: Megan Park; cinematographer: Kristen Correll; editor: Jennifer Vecchiarello; music: Jaco Caraco, Tyler Hilton; cast: Maisy Stella (Elliott), Aubrey Plaza (Older Elliott), Percy Hynes White (Chad), Maddie Ziegler (Ruthie), Kerrice Brooks (Ro), Alexandra Rivera (Chelsea), Maria Dizzia (Kathy), Al Goulem (Tom), Seth Isaac Johnson (Max), Carter Trozzolo (Spencer); Runtime: 89; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamera, Steven Rales, Margot Robbie; Amazon MGM Studios; 2024)
“The lively fantasy film is indebted to the sparkling performance by Maisy Stella.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A crowd-pleasing but only so-so YA coming-of-age dramedy by Canadian actor turned writer/director Megan Park (“Room”/”The Fallout”). It has crisp dialogue, likeable characters, a provocative story, and leaves us with a good message to always be grounded in the present.
On Muskoka lake, in Ontario, the high school senior Elliott (Maisy Stella) and her free-spirited friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) are camping out at night on an island and getting stoned on psychedelic mushrooms. Elliott’s a no show, unaware her parents (Maria Dizzia & Al Goulem) have planned a surprise 18th birthday party for her, just 22 days before she will be attending the University of Toronto. Instead Elliott hallucinates she is visited by herself when she’s 39 (Aubrey Plaza) and is a doctoral student living with a woman. She’s advised by her older self to not go near Chad (Percy Hynes White) without her older self saying why she should listen. But Elliot’s intrigued by the boy she met during the summer even if she has a girlfriend Chelsea (Alexandra Rivera). She’s also told to remain for awhile longer with her parents on the family cranberry farm to get to know them and herself better, as she’s the middle sibling between her older brother (Seth Isaac Johnson) and younger brother (Carter Trozzolo).
In the third act, things come to a head in this gimmicky pop culture flick. After her mushroom trip ends, the younger and older Elliott still communicate by phone. The story moves playfully from a frothy comedy to a serious drama about finding the secrets to living a good life.
The lively fantasy film is indebted to the sparkling performance by Maisy Stella, who shows us how to live a full life of self-discovery and carry a film on her back. The film succeeds even if it has a lot of hooey to it about making connections with others and the community.
It played at the Sundance Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 10/1/2024 GRADE: B-
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