Stream It Or Skip It: ‘My Old Ass’ on Amazon Prime Video, a Smart, Sweet Teen Coming-of-Age Time-Travel Dramedy Featuring Aubrey Plaza

By John Serba

My Old Ass (now streaming connected Amazon Prime Video) is simply a sneaky charmer of a movie, a operation sci-f/coming-of-age teen time-travel sort-of-comedy that wriggles from nan grasp of easy description. It besides features a breakout lead capacity by Maisy Stella (Nashville), pinch support from nan ever-lovin’ Aubrey Plaza, some playing nan aforesaid characteristic astatine different ages, who, what pinch 1 point aliases nan other, extremity up gathering each other. I know, right? Writer/director Megan Park follows up her beardown debut, The Fallout, pinch a high-concept small-drama that mightiness conscionable make you weep a small bit.

MY OLD ASS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Elliott (Stella) is freshly 18. She’s leaving for assemblage soon. She’ll activity connected her family’s rural-Canada cranberry workplace for nan summertime and past it’s disconnected to Toronto to statesman The Rest Of Her Life. She’s having a fling pinch nan hottie woman astatine nan java shop that she gets to by taking her vessel up crossed nan gorgeous reservoir and down nan beautiful stream to a burg, pop. 300. And alternatively of having 18th-birthday barroom pinch her parents and younger brothers, she and her besties Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) campy retired for nan nighttime to brew immoderate psychedelic-mushroom tea. This is each very emblematic teen shit, but perfectly circumstantial to that little infinitesimal of modulation from puerility to adulthood wherever 1 does adultish things pinch a still-childish encephalon pinch immoderate self-awareness of really this infinitesimal exists astatine nan inflection constituent betwixt nan past and nan future.

But earlier we get excessively heavy, nan cardinal crippled point present is that tea. Ruthie almost recognizes nan inflection constituent erstwhile she suggests they make a scheme successful lawsuit their travel goes awry. “What if 1 of america gets excessively precocious and says thing f—ed up and it changes nan cloth of our relationship forever?” (Note to Ruthie: nan cloth of your relationship is changing everlastingly whether you opportunity thing aliases not, you conscionable don’t recognize it yet.) Anyway, Ro’s travel finds her successful her ain small world, dancing. Ruthie falls disconnected a log, and I deliberation I saw a drawstring of drool hanging disconnected her lip. But Elliott? She sits location for illustration when is it going to footwear in and past Aubrey Plaza plops down adjacent to her for illustration she manifested retired of bladed air. And erstwhile Aubrey Plaza reveals that she’s nan 39-year-old type of Elliott, well, it seems arsenic if nan mushrooms are working. 

There’s a spot wherever Elliott-18 and Elliott-39 joke astir really they don’t look astatine each for illustration each other, past they get to nan heavy stuff. No, Elliott-39 isn’t going to show her really to crippled nan banal market. But she gives proposal to her younger self: Don’t return your family for granted is an evident one, because it’s thing each teen does without being alert of it. And nan 2nd spot of wisdom-from-the-future is, debar personification named Chad, and erstwhile Elliott-18 asks why, Elliott-39 is cagey, and nan accusation is, sharing wisdom-from-the-future whitethorn beryllium dicey for philosophical human-development reasons and stability-of-the-space-time-continuum reasons. 

Got each that? You don’t really request to person it. The movie useful conscionable good without miring america successful details, and that’s 1 of nan things that makes it good. One amusing development: When Elliott-18 wakes up, she finds Elliott-39’s number successful her telephone contacts – and for reasons unknown, they tin talk and text, and I couldn’t thief but wonderment if that triggers time-space-continuum roaming charges. One inevitable development: Elliott-18 meets Chad (Percy Hynes White, Wednesday), and he’s tiny and their chemistry is saccharine and bubbly. Well, shit. She’s not expected to beryllium doing this. For immoderate reason. And now Elliott-39 isn’t answering her texts. Being ghosted is 1 thing, but being ghosted by your early self, well, that’s other rough.

PHOTO: Prime Video

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Time Cut sucks wherever My Old Ass very overmuch does not suck. I besides presume nan murky time-travel communique is conscionable an updated type of nan magic mailbox from The Lake House. It besides brings to mind a teen indie-romance a la The Spectacular Now mixed pinch a YA weeper, but without nan latter’s cheesier elements. 

Performance Worth Watching: Stella creates a rough-around-the-edges characteristic who’s authentic and beautiful successful each her assets and flaws. 

Memorable Dialogue: Elliott-39 drops a doozy of a brainbender: “This isn’t going to beryllium nan past clip you get precisely what you want and past recognize it isn’t what you wanted.”

Sex and Skin: Clothed humping and makeout sessions; immoderate bare buns.

Photo: Amazon MGM Studios

Our Take: My Old Ass is an almost-breezy thought research wherever Park posits a large thought – what would you show your younger self, fixed nan chance? – wrong a reasonably emblematic coming-of-age story. There’s emotional, belief and philosophical complexity wrong nan conceit, but it ne'er takes precedence complete nan character. And Stella kinda makes america autumn successful emotion pinch Elliott, who’s smart and spirited and very overmuch her ain self; without nan film’s accent connected her performance, we mightiness beryllium bothered by nan how-and-why mechanics of nan quasi-sci-fi setup, aliases by nan acquainted elements of nan romanticist coming-of-age content. Park isn’t trying to beryllium profound, she’s telling america a communicative astir this one, unsocial individual, and utilizing nan precocious conception to ruminate connected nan bittersweet qualities of parenting, letting go, saying goodbye and alteration successful general.

The consequence is simply a movie that’s funny, smart and sneakily poignant successful its heartbreaking affirmation. One item that stood retired to me: Elliott learns that her parents are trading nan workplace – a workplace afloat of bogs, mind you, successful this discourse a awesome of fetid stillness – and she finds herself torn betwixt wanting to time off this location and wanting it to beryllium location everlastingly successful nan arena of her return. It’s a difficult life instruction for Elliott to study arsenic she navigates nan relationships successful her life, playing play pinch her mediate brother, encouraging her youngest brother’s Saoirse Ronan crush (we consciousness you, kid) and wondering if this Chad fella is simply a serial slayer aliases a heartbreaker or, much likely, thing much fraught and complicated. The performances are consistently thoughtful, nan play ne'er overwrought and nan drama ne'er feels forced.

Notably, Plaza has thing betwixt an extended cameo and a supporting domiciled here, and her interactions pinch Stella are delightful, layered and ray for illustration a fluffy bundt cake. At its heart, My Old Ass feels inspired by Richard Linklater’s films, which research our perceptions of nan transition of clip done experimental structures and funny, crisply written characters and dialogue. Elliott-39 conscionable wants her younger aforesaid to cognize that clip seems to walk for illustration molasses erstwhile you’re young, and for illustration a rocket erstwhile you’re older – but location whitethorn not beryllium a amended spot to beryllium than correct here, not regretting nan past aliases worrying astir nan future, but surviving successful nan spectacular now. Sounds for illustration terrific advice. 

Our Call: My Old Ass is caller and caller and not astatine each for illustration ass. STREAM IT.

John Serba is simply a freelance writer and movie professional based successful Grand Rapids, Michigan.