‘My Old Ass’ Review: A Delightful Coming-of-age and Coming-out-as-bi Comedy
A few years ago, Canadian-based filmmaker Megan Park produced The Fallout, a unique coming-of-age drama starring Jenna Ortega about a girl who survived a high school shooting and struggled with the PTSD that followed. During the online-only 2021 SXSW I covered, it was one of the few movies on the slate that wasn't about the pandemic, so rightfully, it won the Best Narrative Feature award. It featured an impressive star-turning performance from Ortega (before she started dominating the Hollywood scene) and co-star Maddie Ziegler (post-Sia shackles), who proved to be a fine actress. The filmmaker's second time at bat, My Old Ass, tells a lighter LGBTQ coming-of-age story that harbors some of the same emotional mechanics as its predecessor. However, Park is two for two with a strong and resonant flick about reconciling with your younger self.
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R: Language throughout, drug use, and sexual material
Runtime: 1 Hr and 29 Minutes
Production Companies: Indian Paintbrush, LuckyChap Entertainment, Scythia Films
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director: Megan Park
Writer: Megan Park
Cast: Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks, Aubrey Plaza
Release Date: September 27, 2024
Teenager Elliot (Maisy Stella) is spending her last summer on her family's Canadian cranberry farm before moving to Toronto for college. She spends her 18th birthday with her two friends, Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) and Ro (Kerrice Brooks), where Elliot takes shrooms and gets so high that her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) visits her. Is it time travel? Is it fate? Or is it a bad trip? Who cares? The two hit it off and Elliot's "old ass" starts laying down some useful life advice. "Hang out with your mom, spend time with your younger brothers, moisturize," etc. But she also warns her to not mess around with a boy named Chad. As fate would have it, Elliot meets a boy named Chad (Percy Hynes White), who works at her family's farm for the summer. Despite being convinced that she’s a lesbian, she starts questioning herself while hanging out with Chad, stressing over the potential red flags within this seemingly harmless man.
Megan Park certainly knows how to catapult young actresses into stardom. The Fallout launched Jenna Ortega into the stratosphere, and now it's Maisy Stella's turn. Stella excels as Elliot with her impeccable comedic timing, line reads, and emotions. Even when acting among experienced actresses like Aubrey Plaza, Stella shines with immensely. I don't know if it's Stella's vibe or Elliot's, but she carries herself like Renee Rapp (confident, charismatic, and gay as hell). In her first leading role, she carries the film with ease and leaves you wanting more.
My Old Ass' silly little premise isn't hung up on the mechanics of its space-time continuum, and it skirts every instance that makes you want to question it. Park is content with shedding light on growing up and finding your sexuality. At first, Elliot is confident in her outward lesbian identity. However, that position is challenged when Chad enters the picture. Park's cheeky, youthful pen wraps you up in Chad's character thanks to how she frames him as such a babygirl. There's a hysterical drug sequence that tributes a certain Canadian star with Elliot serenading her new crush. It's that personalized mindset that makes My Old Ass' humor and representation of bisexuality feel so fresh and funny. Even I went, "You know what girlie, maybe this is a good man. Go get him, girl." I hate to say this but, hey, this is finally the perfect rom-com for bisexual girls with straight boyfriends.
Besides Chad, there are also other instances where Park takes subversive chances with Elliot and makes her stand out more in her actions. Young Elliot takes most of older Elliot’s advice seriously and acts on them immediately. Old E goes, “Hey, spend more time with your family,” and instead of rebelling, Elliot goes, “Okay,” and does it. Granted, some of the time Elliot spends with her family leads to totally cheesy scenes, especially when it pertains to the fate of their family farm, but boy do they feel so warm and cozy. I love the recurring joke regarding her youngest, flamboyant brother being obsessed with Saoirse Ronan as if she's the next generation's version of Cher. Now that made my ass feel old.
I wished for more Aubrey Plaza because frankly, you can tell where exactly the film cut corners to make it seem like she wasn’t on set for more than a day. Plaza is plastered on the poster but her role is like a gratuitous cameo. But that’s okay because this is Stella’s one-woman show and she holds down the fort with ease.
Elevated by a star-turning performance by Maisy Stella, Megan Park’s My Old Ass is a delightful and tender coming-of-age flick that had me thinking, “Maybe bisexuals do deserve rights.” (This is a joke. I’m not being bi-phobic) The power of Canadians, man.
Rating: 3.5/5
