By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 6 seconds ago
Ever get in the mood for a movie that will make you laugh and cry, often at the same time? My Old Ass (2024) is a trippy coming-of-age framed starring Hollywood’s favorite girl next door, Aubrey Plaza, in what might be her greatest performance (and if you’re familiar with her oeuvre, that’s saying a lot). If you’re ready for the best trip you can take without leaving the couch, you can now stream this modern classic on Prime Video.
She’s Straight Tripping, Boo
The premise of My Old Ass is that a teenage girl getting ready to start a new life at university gets high on mushroom tea with her closest friends. She hallucinates seeing an older version of herself, one who offers the surprising advice to avoid a boy named Chad and even programs her number in her younger self’s phone under the context name “My Old Ass.” Of course, Chad walks into her life, and our young protagonist must decide whether to embrace the wisdom of her older incarnation or to trust her feelings and live in the moment.
The cast of My Old Ass is small and mostly full of younger stars, including lead actor Maisy Stella (best known outside this movie for the Nashville TV show) as a young girl whose older self is a walking, talking cautionary tale. Maddie Zeigler (best known for Music) plays her friend, someone who provides the ‘shrooms that lead to the main character’s life-changing encounter with her older self. Percy Hynes White (best known outside of this movie for the Wednesday TV series), meanwhile, plays the charismatic boy that her future self tries to warn her away from.
Shroomscrolling With America’s Girl Next Door
Unsurprisingly, though, the powerhouse performer in My Old Ass is Aubrey Plaza (best known for Safety Not Guaranteed), who imbues the older version of the main character with her unique brand of dry humor. I wasn’t shocked that Plaza was good at delivering the yucks; after all, much of her character’s quirky humor is of a piece with the punchlines she delivered as April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation. But Plaza is surprisingly great with the dramatic elements of this film because she fully embraces the bittersweet reality of a question everyone eventually asks themselves: “What advice would you give your younger self if you could?”
Fortunately, My Old Ass ended up being one of the most crowd-pleasing comedies of the modern age. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 90 percent, with critics praising the movie for its trippy mixture of off-kilter humor and surprisingly earnest drama. They also commended Aubrey Plaza for her performance as an older version of the main character, someone who offers a mixture of relatable millennial humor and the world-weary wisdom that only comes from age.
Hollywood’s Next Big Director Is Already Here
Interestingly, My Old Ass ended up seriously impressing Chris Columbus, the veteran director who brought us such classics as Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He named this quirky comedy one of his favorite films of 2024 and singled out writer/director Megan Park as someone with “extraordinary promise” who is “a crucial component of our cinematic future.” He compared her to superstar directors like Ryan Coogler and Robert Eggers and sees her as one of Hollywood’s greatest up-and-coming creative talents.
Personally, I was just as blown away by Park’s film as Columbus was: like many, I mostly wanted to watch My Old Ass because Aubrey Plaza is one of the most reliably funny performers in Hollywood. Plus, I love sci-fi, so what could be better than a movie featuring America’s favorite girl next door breaching time and space to give her younger self lessons? Going in, all I really expected was a lighthearted comedy about generational differences and the funnier pangs of growing older.
A Funny Film With A Serious Message
While My Old Ass delivered all of the comedy I wanted and more, what made me really fall in love with the movie was how it served as a poignant meditation on what it means to be truly alive. Plaza’s character wants to spare her younger self the pain of growing older, but her younger self is wise enough to realize that it is the traumas of today that shape us into who we are destined to become. To live is to take risks, and the film brilliantly argues that a life lived without taking chances is no life at all.
Will you agree that My Old Ass is one of the most innovative coming-of-age comedies ever made, or will you want to tell your younger self to avoid the mistake of watching this film in the first place? The only way to find out is to grab the remote (‘shrooms optional) and stream this hilarious and heartfelt movie on Prime Video for yourself. Come for the vulgar comedy and stay for a surprisingly sweet message about love, life, and the role pain plays in helping you experience pure, unadulterated joy.
