Summary

Park’s sophomore feature, My Old Ass, authentically captures fear and the experience of young adulthood. The film doesn’t do anything new, but the way it’s executed makes it feel refreshing. Stella and Plaza deliver exceptional performances.

There comes a point when adults stop exploring their childlike wonder due to life’s greatest challenges. The fear of risks and heartache often overshadows the possible excitement of rewards and happiness. Writer-director Megan Park returned to the Sundance Film Festival with her sophomore feature to explore this idea. Combining a coming-of-age story with a playful time-traveling element, My Old Ass sees Elliot (played by fiercely talented Maisy Stella) explore the idea of an uncertain future. Park once again demonstrates her strong ability to connect her audiences to authentic human experiences, resulting in a film that is meaningful and emotionally piercing.

My Old Ass is a 2024 comedy film written and directed by Megan Park. It follows Elliot Labrant, who has a strange encounter with her future self, warning her to avoid falling in love. ProsMegan Park beautifully encapsulates an authentic young adult experience. The script is a triple threat: sweet, smart, and funny, and defies expectations within the genre. Maisy Stella & Aubrey Plaza give exceptional performances with great chemistry. ConsThe film suffers from side character syndrome.

The story follows the free-spirited and confident Elliot (Stella) during the summer before she leaves for college in Toronto. During a birthday outing with her two friends, Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler), they decide to take mushrooms. While Ro and Ruthie seem to have great experiences, Elliot meets her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza), who comes with a bunch of half-assed advice and ominous warnings about the future. And when her older self warns Elliot to stay away from the seemingly perfect Chad (Percy Hynes White), she must decide to fight her burning desires or prevent the heartbreak that will inevitably occur.

My Old Ass Has Substance Thanks To Park’s Dedication To Authentic Storytelling
Park is a rare example of an early-career director who knows how to create authentic young adult stories that are equally endearing and meaningful. With her assured debut The Fallout (2021), Park showed a keenly empathetic disposition to trauma and grief while still giving space to her characters to develop outside their distress. Now, she’s back with an elegant feature that tackles the preventative solicitude of self when the biggest thing to fear is fear itself. My Old Ass is tender in how it handles fear, refreshing with its coming-of-age storytelling, and worthy of every single accolade it will surely receive this year.

[My Old Ass is] an elegant feature that tackles the preventative solicitude of self when the biggest thing to fear is fear itself.

The beautiful thing about Park’s sophomore feature is that it doesn’t offer any new concepts, nor does it pretend to. Rather, the film helps us to picture ourselves in Elliot’s circumstance. What would you say to your younger self if you had the chance? Would you tell yourself to seize a specific opportunity you may be too afraid to try? Or, like older Elliot, would you warn your younger self to stay away from someone to avoid heartbreak later? With nuance and thoughtfulness, Park confidently steers her audience on an emotional roller coaster, leading to a striking, relatable experience.

My Old Ass Is An Unpredictably Emotional Ride
Perhaps a bit more cleverly, Park takes every chance to advise us of the importance of taking our time to enjoy every moment, because you never know when it’ll be time to say goodbye. For Elliot, that means appreciating the family farm more, especially after her parents decide to sell it once she leaves for college. Simple moments like this and the resulting consequence for Elliot is an emotional ride I could never have predicted. But when you have a filmmaker like Park at the steering wheel, understand that the ride will be an enjoyable and worthy one.

For a film that combines a love story with comedy and time travel, it would be all too easy to prepare yourself for tonal mayhem. But it’s quite the opposite. Park understands the complications of big life changes for young adults, and she uses that to her advantage by creating natural circumstances to meet the needs of the character. Of course, none of this would’ve been possible without terrific performances. Stella and Plaza’s chemistry, built on sass, humor, and confidence, is comedic perfection. And while My Old Ass suffers from side character syndrome, forgiving this oversight feels almost necessary.

When you have a filmmaker like Park at the steering wheel, understand that the ride will be an enjoyable and worthy one.

An incredible tale about not giving up on youthful fearlessness, My Old Ass provides a safe space for emotional reflection. The film is endearingly sweet, smart, and funny — a combination that works so well. Nothing in the feature is inherently new, but Park’s ability to craft a sincere story and execute it in the way she does makes it feel like it is. As a result, the watching experience was an emotionally compelling one that made me appreciative of every second. This film is a gift and one of the easiest coming-of-age films to rally behind.

My Old Ass premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

My Old Ass Release Date January 20, 2024 Director Megan Park Cast Maisy Stella , Percy Hynes White , Maddie Ziegler , Seth Isaac Johnson , Kerrice Brooks , Aubrey Plaza Runtime 88 Minutes Writers Megan Park Studio(s) Indian Paintbrush , LuckyChap Entertainment , Scythia Films