My Old Ass

Aubrey Plaza has really only ever taken projects that she seems passionate about. But this year she has thrived in Agatha All Along and My Old Ass. Now she has faced criticism in the past to the effect that she only plays herself in movies and has no acting ability beyond her personality. I think her exploration of Rio in Agatha All Along proved that false. But My Old Ass seems to be back to her regular brand of comedy.

So the premise is that Elliot is 18 years old and about to leave her small town for the first time. On a farewell camping trip with her friends they do a bunch of mushrooms. During her trip she hallucinates her older self.

The night of the trip doesn’t actually last that long and I appreciate that. It just introduces the character of older Elliot and she gives her younger self some really great advice. This is act 1 and does a really good job of setting up the rest of the film.

Then we get into the magical realism of the movie when younger Elliot calls her older self. So we have established that she can contact her older self.

The comedy is great, the teenagers are absolutely written like teenagers. The sibling moments are also really great. And really anything Aubrey Plaza is in ends up having some really great comedic moments.

The one solid and specific piece of advice that her older self gives her is “stay away from guys named Chad” which is honestly good general advice for life but it turns out it's because Elliot falls hopelessly in love with him and he dies. It is an emotional turn that I really didn’t expect from this movie but it was executed so well that I was fully on board. It brings forth the thought; If you knew you would lose the person you love would you still choose to be with them? And I think anyone that has actually been in love would say yes of course. You want to spare yourself the pain of devastating loss but true, undeniable love is worth it. Yeah I'm getting super cheesy but that's because I am disgustingly in love with my husband and I would choose him every time, even if I knew something bad would happen.

The movie also gives us a few moments of exploration with Elliot. We start the movie with both the audience and Elliot thinking that she is a lesbian, but when she starts having feelings for Chad she starts questioning the label and identity she carved out for herself. This is great for a few reasons. The biggest being that at 18 years old you definitely do not know who you are yet and seeing the exploration and confusion is very real.

I also really loved using Elliot’s old self as kind of a framing device for 18 year old Elliot to question. She clearly has reservations about leaving and connecting with her older self allows her to be sure in her decision and connect with the people that she loves before she goes.

The movie is incredibly sweet and deeper and more emotional than i expected from an Aubrey Plaza movie.I think that Maisy Stella did an incredible job. And this joins a very long list of movies produced by Margot Robbie that are truly incredible and insightful. I will always be on the side of women telling women’s stories and this is just another great one. It is unfortunately something that will not get the award attention that it deserves.