Everything on Elliott’s checklist goes swimmingly, although at first the mushrooms don’t seem to be having much of an effect – at least not compared to her babbling friends. Then she notices the woman who has appeared next to her. This is somehow 39-year-old Elliott, played by champion deadpan eye roller Aubrey Plaza, who gets many opportunities to use her gift.
After assuming the hallucinogenic brew has finally kicked in, Elliott peppers her older self with questions – “Do you die, am I dead?” – while questioning that they don’t look particularly alike. Older Elliott is happy to play along but between some light teasing and a touch of melancholy she has two important messages to impart: spend some quality time with your family, and avoid a dude called Chad.
Next morning Elliott writes it all off as weird trip. But then she has an awkward but amusing encounter with a lanky goofball (Percy Hynes White) who is clearly interested in her. When she finds out his name is Chad it sends her into a tailspin; thank goodness, then, that Older Elliott is somehow available to call and text on her mobile. The realisation that her vision quest was real makes Elliott double down on following the advice of her older self. That means trying to bond with her younger brothers – one a preppy golf nerd, the other an unexpected cinephile – and reconnecting with the mom she has long taken for granted. But trying to avoid contact with the cheerful Chad, who is working on her family farm, proves a little trickier.
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Written and directed by Megan Park (whose own younger self was an actor in US drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager 15 years or so ago), My Old Ass does not feel the need to explains its fantastical premise. Emotions are foregrounded, and it helps that Elliott and her friends are from a generation seemingly used to talking more openly about their feelings.
It also taps into the illicit thrill of making bad decisions – which, essentially, is what being a teenager is all about – and is warm and witty in a way that feels much more natural compared to the reference-heavy, rat-a-tat patter of most comedies about teens. Stella, in her film debut, does a remarkable job of making Elliott a bolshy, charismatic, plausibly exasperating young woman.
For all its grounded setting, there is one surreal flight of fancy involving a surprise needle drop that feels all the more charming for seeming to come out of nowhere.
It helpfully buoys the film just before things get a little more serious as the end of summer looms. But overall it is an understated, cathartic delight: a sweet coming-of-ages movie that has something useful to tell the 18-year-old – or 39-year-old – in all of us.
My Old Ass is in cinemas from 27 September. Graeme Virtue is a film and TV critic.
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