--- title: My Old Ass Is a Winning Coming-of-Age Comedy description: Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza star in Megan Park's comedy with a literal take on the question, "what advice would you give your younger self"? canonical: https://time.com/7018055/my-old-ass-review/ author: Stephanie Zacharek article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-09-13T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T18:14:29.855Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'My Old Ass' Is a Winning Comedy About the Rush to Grow Up og:description: Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza star in Megan Park's comedy with a literal take on the question, "what advice would you give your younger self"? og:url: https://time.com/7018055/my-old-ass-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91fddea1042a4853/698a5ac947ca38563f3bdfad/Maisy-Stella-and-Aubrey-Plaza-in-My-Old-Ass-Photo-MARNI-GROSSMAN-%C2%A9-AMAZON-CONTENT-SERVICES-LLC-copy.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: My Old Ass og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'My Old Ass' Is a Winning Comedy About the Rush to Grow Up twitter:description: Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza star in Megan Park's comedy with a literal take on the question, "what advice would you give your younger self"? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91fddea1042a4853/698a5ac947ca38563f3bdfad/Maisy-Stella-and-Aubrey-Plaza-in-My-Old-Ass-Photo-MARNI-GROSSMAN-%C2%A9-AMAZON-CONTENT-SERVICES-LLC-copy.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _My Old Ass_ Is a Winning Comedy About the Rush to Become Who You Are  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Sep 13, 2024 11:00 AM UTC  Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in My Old Ass Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in My Old AssCourtesy of Amazon  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Sep 13, 2024 11:00 AM UTC It’s one of those interview questions asked of confident, accomplished women time and again: What [advice would you give your younger self](https://time.com/4206533/hillary-clinton-advice-to-her-younger-self/)? Megan Park’s _My Old Ass_ riffs on that stock question, but with a smart, perceptive twist: instead of treating the younger self as a clueless naif, it recognizes that [teenagers](https://time.com/5594000/booksmart-review/) often have more emotional resilience than even they recognize. Freewheeling, mildly reckless Elliott ([_Nashville_’s Maisy Stella](https://time.com/3697094/nashville-lennon-and-maisy-boom-clap-cover/)) can’t wait for her life to start: in just a few weeks, she’ll leave her family’s Ontario farm for college in Toronto. The last thing she wants to be, she says, is a third-generation cranberry farmer, even if the idyllic, woodsy, lakeside setting of her life so far looks like the sort of place most people would want to rush _toward._ Still, she’s making the most of her last days on her home turf, tootling around the lake in her rusty motorboat, striking up a last-minute romance with a cute girl, and heading off to an adorably spooky island to sip dubious-looking shroom tea with her best friends (played by Maddie Ziegler and Kerrice Brooks). That mushroom tea is more than a little magic: while her friends are off having your average, noodle-dance trip, Elliott finds herself sitting on a log, engrossed in deep discussion with a woman who claims to be her 39-year-old self (played by the [luminously sardonic](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6268723/aubrey-plaza/) [Aubrey Plaza](https://time.com/6205410/aubrey-plaza-emily-the-criminal-little-demon/)). Older Elliott has lots of advice for the younger version: Wear your retainer. Spend more quality time with the family. And whatever you do, when you meet a guy named Chad—run. Elliott is pretty sure she’s gay. Enter Chad (Percy Hynes White), a lanky, goofball swain with a great, rubbery smile. She tries to run, but Chad turns out to be unavoidable, much to the dismay of older Elliott (who, defying all known rules of time and space, has programmed her number into younger Elliott’s cell phone). _My Old Ass_ is a bit crazy. It’s also winning, in the gentlest, sweetest way. Park’s second feature (following her 2021 debut, _The Fallout_) is a pleasingly casual little movie that asks big questions in loopy, unfinished sentences. What teenager _doesn’t_ want to race toward the future? _My Old Ass_ urges us to look back at the people we used to be, blurry and impatient, people who just couldn’t wait to become—us. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7018055/my-old-ass-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7018055/my-old-ass-review/"},"headline":"My Old Ass Is a Winning Comedy About the Rush to Become Who You Are","datePublished":"2024-09-13T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T18:14:29.855Z","description":"Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza star in Megan Park's comedy with a literal take on the question, \"what advice would you give your younger self\"?","url":"https://time.com/7018055/my-old-ass-review/","keywords":["movies","review","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91fddea1042a4853/698a5ac947ca38563f3bdfad/Maisy-Stella-and-Aubrey-Plaza-in-My-Old-Ass-Photo-MARNI-GROSSMAN-%C2%A9-AMAZON-CONTENT-SERVICES-LLC-copy.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephanie Zacharek","jobTitle":"Film Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91fddea1042a4853/698a5ac947ca38563f3bdfad/Maisy-Stella-and-Aubrey-Plaza-in-My-Old-Ass-Photo-MARNI-GROSSMAN-%C2%A9-AMAZON-CONTENT-SERVICES-LLC-copy.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"My Old Ass","caption":"My Old Ass","creditText":"Courtesy of Amazon","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7018055/my-old-ass-review/","name":"My Old Ass Is a Winning Comedy About the Rush to Become Who You Are"}}]}] ```