You might not think that “My Old Ass” (Amazon Studios/MGM), a movie about a queer, 18-year-old girl’s shroom-fueled journey of self-discovery, would be one of the best movies of 2024, but you’d be wrong. The second full-length feature film from Canadian writer/director/actor Megan Park features unforgettable performances that are as original as the premise itself.
On her 18th birthday, shortly before she is to leave the cranberry farm where she lives with her family to attend college in Toronto, Elliott (Maisy Stella) does ‘shrooms with her best friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler). Initially, she has a different response to the hallucinogen than her friends, but then they kick in and she is visited by a woman (Aubrey Plaza) claiming to be her at 39. Once she has proven who she says she is (by showing a scar they share, for example), she offers Elliott all sorts of useful advice, including being nicer to her mother Kathy (Maria Dizzia) and father Tom (Al Goulem), and younger brothers Max (Seth Isaac Johnson) and Spencer (Carter Trozzolo), and, most importantly, to avoid someone named Chad.
By means of the lingering effects of the drug, the younger and older Elliotts establish a relationship via text and phone calls. All the while, Elliott is also having a summer fling with Chelsea (Alexandria Rivera). Then she meets the college student who is helping her father out on the farm, and wouldn’t you know it, his name is Chad (Percy Hynes White)!
Doing everything in her power to keep a distance between herself and Chad, the younger Elliott meets resistance at every turn. Complicating things is Chad’s history in the region which involves his cranberry farmer grandfather knowing Elliott’s cranberry farmer grandfather.
Elliott tries to be more present with her family, spending time with her parents, and even going golfing with brother Max. But everywhere she looks, Chad is there. And their mutual attraction is increasing.
Worsening the situation, suddenly older Elliott is not responding to texts or voicemail messages, leaving the conflicted younger Elliott scrambling. After telling Ro about the situation, she realizes that she might have to ‘shroom again to regain her fading connection with her older self. When she does, the resulting Justin Bieber trip turns out to be one of the movie’s funniest sequences.
But for all the humor (and there’s plenty), it’s the serious scenes, including an intimate mother/daughter moment, the section in which Elliott learns about the future of the family farm, and particularly when the older Elliott returns, and she is introduced to Chad, that are sure to bring on the tears.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of “My Old Ass” is that Plaza is capable of such a restrained and nuanced performance. Don’t be shocked if she ends up with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Rating: A-
