The gimmick at the center of Megan Park's dramedy My Old Ass is grabby: On the night of her 18th birthday, a teenager blows off her family birthday celebration to go do drugs in the woods. There, she encounters an adult version of herself, and promptly proceeds to rag on herself for being so old. (The other version of her is just 39.) Seeing a confident teenager and her older self playfully butt heads over future job prospects and appearances is already funny.
Writer-director Megan Park uses a high-concept plot to drill in on specific emotions and experiences, while dodging genre trappings and specifics about time travel. Skimping on the sci-fi mechanics while leaning into the emotions created by the situation lets her craft My Old Ass into a contemplative coming-of-age story - one that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of that one last carefree adolescent summer before everything changes.
Maisy Stella plays Elliott, a confident young woman with big dreams of leaving her family's cranberry farm behind when she goes to University of Toronto in the fall. While tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms, she's visited by an older version of herself (played by Aubrey Plaza), who offers her advice about this very transitory time in their life. The two manage to keep up a correspondence via cell phone, with older Elliott trying to guide younger Elliott without giving away too much about the future.
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