by Cain Noble-Davies

Year:  2024

Director:  Megan Park

Rated:  MA

Release:  26 September 2024

Distributor: Warner/Universal

Running time: 89 minutes

Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza, Percy Hynes White, Alexandra Rivera

Intro:
… just another coming-of-age romance.

“What advice would you give your younger self?”

It’s a commonly-asked question among self-help groups, chronic ruminators, and an overwhelming number of YouTube videos. It’s an interesting metaphysical idea, tangled up in the kind of wandering thoughts about what might have been that resulted in modern obsessions with multiversal theory… but there’s an inherent issue with it. Not because of the lack of access to time travel to actually make it happen, but something more intrinsically flawed in the idea; it’s much easier to preach than practice, and most people aren’t great at following their own advice.

So, you can imagine how receptive young adult Elliott (Maisy Stella) is when, after a fateful mushroom trip, she begins talking with her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). Any specifics of Elliott’s future are only revealed in sly asides about the lack of salmon or the need to moisturise, save for one: A warning not to get involved with Chad (Percy Hynes White), who works on the family farm. The budding love story between Elliott and Chad (?!) forms the crux of the film, which would be fine if it was interesting. Elliott describes Chad as being so innocent that you want to protect him, yet so basic that you want to punch him in the face. Oh, if only he could inspire either of those reactions, as both the character and the actor’s performance rest comfortably in the realms of ‘bland’. He is a bread sandwich with opposable thumbs.

There’s not much to invest in here, not helped by the limited number of avenues that the initial warning could lead to… which ends up being reduced to just one because the film’s consistent and frequently eye-rolling twee doesn’t allow room for anything else. And even that outcome is one that is old-hat for transtemporal stories and features, and often done more empathic justice than the cold shrug offered here. It’s a weird meta example – proving how knowing about unfortunate events ahead of time… kind of spoils the fun of the moment.

The film’s approach to sexuality, and in particular bisexuality, is a bit muddled as well. It certainly deserves props for taking the time to actively dispel notions of bi-erasure in the idea that Elliott, a lesbian as far as she knows at that point, becoming interested in a guy doesn’t inherently make her less Queer (a notion that even those within the rainbow, struggle with at times). But the way that the film treats her girlfriend Chelsea (Alexandra Rivera), who is given the full Disposable Love Interest package complete with zero character of her own, gives it an odd aftertaste that ends up revoking at least a few of those props.

But even with all that said, there is still something consistently great about My Old Ass: the comedy. While deeply entrenched in modern American comedy stylings (where a lot of it is either improv or delivered to appear as such), the jokes land a substantial amount of the time and fit thematically with the larger notions about the aimlessness and unpredictability of the teenage experience. If you can deal with Gen Z humour and lingo, you’ll be right at home here.

Despite its moments of drug-induced trippiness and promises of Aubrey Plaza (audiences wanting to check this out just for her are likely to be disappointed), My Old Ass is just another coming-of-age romance. It kinda-sorta lives up to its main message about enjoying life in the now thanks to its humour and delivery, but it’s unlikely to inspire fond remembrance after the fact because of its predictability and difficulty curve in taking the drama seriously. To use a similar metaphor to the film – Call Me by Your Name, The Adam Project, Lady Bird, Arrival, Synchronic, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt); your best chance for proper engagement with this is if none of those films existed, otherwise, just rewatch them.

5Meh
Score
5
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