A relatable blend of genres (Spoilers)
Elliot Labrant (Maisy Stella) is a Canadian teenager who, on her 18th birthday, decides to do shrooms with her friends. After doing so, she meets her future self (Audrey Plaza). Initially, it seems like a hallucination, but Elliot eventually discovers evidence that she’s real. How and why this time travel works isn’t explained, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the advice that Older Elliot ends up giving.
Older Elliot tells her younger self that she should spend more time with her family. Through golfing with her brother Max (Seth Isaac Johnson), Elliot realizes she can be insensitive to other people’s feelings. Of course, as Older Elliot accurately points out, that describes everyone at 18. Older Elliot also says to stay away from Chad (Percy Hynes White), who works for the Labrant family. There’s a clear attraction between Chad and Elliot, which is especially notable since Elliot previously thought she was a lesbian.
The Acting
Hynes White is so d**n charming in this. Of course, at the moment, he’s probably known more for the sexual assault allegations made against him than his acting ability. How do you deal with a movie featuring the work of an alleged predator? Well, I go the “separate the art from the artist” route. That’s why I still watch stuff with Kevin Spacey in it. However, I also understand why someone wouldn’t want to subscribe to that mind frame.
Besides Hynes White, the rest of the cast are also great. Stella was excellent as the leading lady. Plaza was as good as Older Elliot. I was seriously disappointed that Plaza didn’t have more screen time in this. Elliot’s two friends, Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) don’t show up often but are also good when they do. I think everyone performed well in this.
The Tone
My Old A*s is also well-written and directed by Megan Park. It balances its tone nicely. On the one hand, it’s a hilarious movie. Elliot asks to be told something good about the future, and after struggling for an answer, Oler Elliot proudly reveals they’re a PhD student, much to her younger self’s disappointment. However, the funniest scene, in my opinion, is when Stella shows off her singing chops.
There are many great dramatic moments as well, such as when Older Elliot tells her younger counterpart to stay away from Chad. In a great scene, she reveals that it’s not because he’s a d*******g, which you might have suspected given his name is Chad. It’s because he dies after she’s fallen hard for him.
The Relatability
Oh. The age-old question of whether it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Elliot ultimately agrees with Alfred Lord Tennyson while acknowledging that Older Elliot has given her some otherwise stellar advice. The movie’s theme about how “time is the only thing you don’t get back” is very relatable across the board, though some may not feel that’s enough.
My Old A*s reminds me of Turning Red, a movie that got written off by some critics and its studio for not being “relatable” enough. I could do so much soapboxing about how studios have become too risk-averse or how fiction is supposed to open up new worlds. Instead, I’ll just say that I’m not a teen girl, Canadian, or queer, but I found My Old A*s to be very charming and would recommend watching it.
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