My Old Ass: A “Trip” to the Future
Kyleigh Wanzelak ’26 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Heavy spoilers ahead
After her 2021 writing and directorial debut hit, The Fallout, former actress Megan Park was met with high expectations for her anticipated sophomore project, My Old Ass. The bar was raised much higher after it was announced big name Aubrey Plaza would be starring and bigger name Margot Robbie would be producing. Advertised as a coming-of-age drama with a twist, the film not only had to live up to Park’s previous work but also had to set itself apart from every moderately forgettable coming-of-age movie to come before it. Spoiler: it did.
The film follows Elliot (Maisy Stella) a month before she’s set to move away for college, preparing to leave behind her family, friends, and farm. Despite having no real plan, she’s more than ready to go, constantly talking about how her life is truly about to start. From the get-go it’s obvious she’s pretty neglectful of her family, not realizing what she has right in front of her. Of course, she’s an 18-year-old girl getting ready for the next chapter of her life, so this behavior isn’t entirely surprising. The real story begins when she and her friends, Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler), decide to take mushrooms as one of their last hurrahs. While there definitely could’ve been more focus on them together, the trio provides a good balance—Ro being the calm one, Ruthie the responsible one, and Elliot the messy one. The other two girls have pretty stereotypical “trips”, dancing to nothing and speaking to animals, but Elliot’s is a bit more unconventional.
Once the shrooms hit, Aubrey Plaza appears, claiming she’s 39-year-old Elliot from the future. The entire sequence is highly memorable, but in one of the most clever moments of the movie, younger Elliot lists all the ways the two look nothing alike, doing a laughably good job of addressing the initial elephant in the room: Stella and Plaza bear almost no resemblance towards one another. Teenage Elliot is curious about their future and is rightfully disappointed when her older self struggles to list anything positive besides being an almost 40-year-old PhD student. The teenager switches gears, proposing her older self gives her advice on how to ensure their life turns out better. The one thing she tells her? Stay away from a boy named Chad (Percy Hynes White).
The chemistry between the two actresses is immediately palpable, establishing their connection for the rest of the film. This connection is crucial, not only because they are playing the same character, but because unfortunately, Plaza isn’t seen again until the very end of the 90 minutes. More than 75% of her contribution is through phone calls or voicemails, which is a little disappointing and feels a bit like an underutilization of both the character and the actor. On the other hand, it also brings up the question of how these two were able to further defy time and space by casually calling each other across different decades. Continuing to suspend her (and our) disbelief, teenage Elliot decides to make the most of her remaining time at home. She also attempts to avoid Chad, a charming boy next door who is visiting family for the summer. This proves to be much more difficult than anticipated, dredging up a list of questions for both her and her older self. Naturally, Elliot is curious about what makes Chad so bad—he seems harmless,yet there’s a suspicious undertone to everything he does simply because of how adamant older Elliot is about him. But on top of this, Elliot is a lesbian. Or at least she thought she was.
One of the aspects that sets My Old Ass apart from other films is the exploration of Elliot’s sexuality. While it admittedly could have come a bit sooner in the plot, the identity crisis is portrayed in an endearingly realistic manner, culminating in a beautiful scene between Stella and Brooks. Elliot confides in Ro, who tells her she isn’t any less queer because she may or may not be into a guy, further emphasizing how pointless labels really are. The film could have easily negated this subplot and made Chad a woman, focusing on Elliot as a lesbian fully confident in her sexuality. It wouldn’t have changed much at the core of the story and it would still be representing a part of the community that continues to be largely underrepresented in media. But, it didn’t. Park chose to tackle a side of queerness that is so rarely depicted in media, but continually proves to be a very real struggle for so many individuals everywhere. This arc is a prime example that not everyone is sure about who they are, and some people think they know until they don’t.
The key to this film is its heart. The realism interlaced through both Stella’s performance and Park’s dialogue is what makes it so captivating even before the tear-jerking end. The conversations teenage Elliot has with her family feel familiar: her brother (Seth Isaac Johnson) responding no when asked if he’ll miss her once she’s gone, and her dad (Al Goulem) telling her she leaves herself out of things when confronted about the selling of their farm. The final scene with her mom (Maria Dizzia) is a stand-out, projecting a feeling that most likely everyone has experienced at one point or another. She tearfully recalls when Elliot was a baby and suddenly stopped needing help getting into her crib at night, comparing it to how she currently feels waiting for Elliot to leave for college: so sad, but so proud. It’s both heartwarming and devastating to watch as the 18-year-old takes her mother into her arms, holding her as they both mourn for the time they’ll never get back—something her older self warned her of from their very first meeting.
Of course, it’s not all heart. Some of the best parts of My Old Ass are simple, stupid fun. Particularly Elliot’s second “trip”, which is a last-ditch effort to get ahold of the other version of herself. Unfortunately for her, the plan fails. Fortunately for the audience, the “trip” turns into a full-out performance of Justin Bieber’s “One Less Lonely Girl”. Maisy Stella gives a great Bieber, providing her own vocals and off-the-chart levels of swag. But it’s Percy Hynes White as the chosen fangirl who really steals the show. Furthermore, Megan Park proves for the second time that you can’t cast Maddie Ziegler in a movie and not make her dance (shoutout to Dance Moms fans).
By the last 20 minutes, it definitely seems like progress has been made. Elliot has reconnected with her family, confided in her friends about her sexuality, somewhat admitted her feelings to Chad, and embraced her love for the home she thought would always be there for her. By this point, the story has proven to be heartfelt and surprisingly realistic but hasn’t established itself as particularly memorable. That is, until the ending sequence between Stella, Plaza, and White. Future Elliot finally returns, physically appearing for the first time since the initial “trip”, berating her teenage self for ignoring her main piece of advice. From the start, the main question looming over every happy moment has been—what’s so bad about Chad? He’s seemingly as close to perfect as one can get, going as far as studying underfunded cancer research. Despite the temptation, as a viewer, it’s difficult to fully give in to the charm, since older Elliot’s initial warning was clear and firm: stay away from Chad and their future will be better. At this point, the possibilities seem obvious. Maybe the relationship gets toxic and he turns violent, or maybe he ends up leaving and breaking her heart. Whatever it is, it’s obviously impactful enough to completely alter the course of her life. Defeated, older Elliot reaches her breaking point and tearfully spits out the truth—Chad is dead.
The twist is heartbreaking but necessary. It comes so far out of left field that it’s impossible not to share the feelings of shock and grief coming from both women. Park’s dialogue and direction, coupled with the portrayals from both Stella and Plaza make for a gut-wrenching sequence, tying the thread of time together impeccably. From the beginning, the 39-year-old has tried stressing that it’s the one thing you can’t get back. Solidifying one of Aubrey Plaza’s rawest performances to date, future Elliot begs her to quit while she’s ahead, claiming she doesn’t want her younger self to go through what she did. In what can only be described as an immeasurably layered moment, future Elliot is confronted with the presence of teenage Chad, the boy she loved and lost, and is still grieving. Continuing to muddle the laws of drug-induced time travel, Chad can somehow see her in return, which allows for arguably the most emotional moment in all of My Old Ass. After giving her own version of approval, Plaza’s Elliot prepares to finally leave, pulling Chad into a hug before she goes. At first casual, the interaction quickly turns intense, with older Elliot sobbing into the embrace. Chad, being the saint he is, just holds her and lets her cry, further cementing her choice to accept the unavoidable. The scene is heart-wrenching, but it’s the moment of acceptance that both women have been consciously and unconsciously searching for the entire time.
The film is wrapped up with a final voicemail that intrinsically connects all the film’s themes of love, life, time, and future. In her last piece of advice, Elliot’s older self declares that she can’t get stuck in the past, but she also shouldn’t live her life for her future, emphasizing it’s all about the here and now. She does a beautiful job of reframing her grief, promising to start living her own life as her younger self does the same. It’s obvious that Elliot’s “trip” came at the right time for both of them, seeing as how they both were stuck watching life pass them by.
At its core, My Old Ass is tender and grounding. It tackles so much seriousness in such a refreshing manner, earning laughs while still confronting the grim inevitabilities of life. The film isn’t perfect, as no film is; there is some cheesy dialogue and the first half feels a bit slow, but even those moments add a layer of realism that can be difficult to showcase authentically. Megan Park does a wonderful job writing and directing, providing a solid follow-up to her remarkable first feature. Solidifying herself as someone to keep an eye on, Maisy Stella wholly embodies the character of Elliot, giving a performance that is effortlessly enamoring and down-to-earth.
Tying things all together is Aubrey Plaza, who, even with her small amount of screentime, is crucial in driving the message home: if you’re waiting for life to start, odds are, it already has.