My Old Ass

 “Just take my advice, and we’ll be fine.”

Hilarious, heartfelt and wholesome, My Old Ass is a pleasantly surprising coming-of-age tale that takes a surreal framing device and manages to extract maximum emotional engagement from the setup of being able to ask your older self life advice via a mushroom-induced trip to deliver substantial life lessons about love, family and learning from one’s mistakes and embracing life’s flaws to teary results.

Discussion Points:

Much like the films protagonist Elliott being reticent to love her crush Chad, I was initially reluctant to love this film. It’s opening moments established a stoner comedy tone that I thought was going to remain the bedrock, but instead it gives way to a truly loveable, heartfelt, charismatic and wholesome film about life, love and learning. Maisy Stella is absolutely fantastic as young adult coming to terms with her identity, family and future - who after a hallucinogenic mushroom trip suddenly finds herself able to communicate with her older self played by the delightfully droll and dry Aubrey Plaza who perfectly balances mystery, misery, optimism and wisdom. Add the enduringly charismatic Percy Hynes White as the least chad Chad to ever chad and I was absolutely won over by this films coming-of-age heart which it wears on its sleeve. It has some truly profound comments on what is love and what makes life worth living - love is both security and freedom, and we can’t regret pain because it helps us to grow and become who we are. Also as a tourism ad for cranberry farming in Canada in absolutely succeeds - I can’t wait to visit asap! One of the biggest cinematic surprises of 2024.