What’s it about?
An 18-year-old girl does drugs for the first time in her life and comes face-to-face with her 29-year-old self (played by Aubrey Plaza) who tries to give her advice on what’s to come.
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Ignore the trailers, My Old Ass is not a low-brow comedic romp. In fact, while it has laughs, it isn’t really a comedy: It’s much, much better than that. Instead of a young girl just trading barbs with her older Aubrey Plaza self, we’re treated to an extremely real and genuine coming of age film that explores emotions in an incredibly down-to-earth and realistic way.
The main character – played wonderfully by Maisy Stella – isn’t an attractive, put-together girl with her life planned out. Nor is she a screw up flying by the seat of her pants. She’s just an 18-year-old with hopes and dreams that are fuzzy and poorly defined. And it’s this authentic theme running throughout My Old Ass that sets it apart from cliched Hollywood films.
Poignant pauses and silences punctuate moments of thought and emotion. Director Megan Park (Room, The Fallout) allows the viewer to make their own decisions while spinning a wonderful web of not quite predictable events. It features some truly wonderful parent-child moments and is just delightfully understated and considered.
One of my favourites of the year.
