My Old Ass
Amazon MGM Studios | Release Date: September 13, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
39
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 17, 2024
If you want to see great acting that’s unadorned, not fancy, and very much in the style of 2024, see Plaza in the climactic scene from “My Old Ass.” You will walk out of this film different than when you walked in, and a little bit better for the experience. Read full review
100
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 21, 2024
To its credit, this future classic is honest about adolescent desire, self-questioning sexual identity issues and all kinds of other behavior that sends worried moms and dads into meltdown mode. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 19, 2024
I love movies like this — sweet little surprises that stick with you. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonSep 12, 2024
It’s as much about reframing middle-aged regrets as it is a story about youth, love and possibility — and thus the emotional heft it wields is two-pronged. Read full review
90
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonJan 25, 2024
The film is endearingly sweet, smart, and funny. Read full review
90
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 22, 2024
What Park creates from the tension between this joyful, exciting present and a seemingly ominous future is rather marvelous, a big and sincere sentiment about the risk and reward of life, a message that is just as worthy for a middle-ager as it is for a kid. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 24, 2024
Despite some minor issues in presenting and pursuing the time travel episodes, My Old Ass rarely missteps and that will likely earn it a place on my end-of-the-year Top 10. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 24, 2024
Canadian filmmaker Megan Park’s comedy is a touching charmer about growing up, and about that gradual, heartbreaking realization that everything has a last time. If all this sounds a little gooey, let’s remember that this movie features Aubrey Plaza, a wonderfully sardonic performer apparently incapable of goo. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 17, 2024
Here is a film that dabbles in fantasy yet gets everything right about that fleeting summer when you’re between the end of your youth and the beginnings of adulthood. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 13, 2024
What Megan Park has done with “My Old Ass” is so authentic and thoroughly winning that she breathes new life into a familiar genre. Read full review
88
ObserverEmily ZemlerSep 11, 2024
My Old Ass is a success because it’s so earnest, allowing these ideas to resonate with subtle humor, emotional heft and, most importantly, self-acceptance. Read full review
87
PolygonPetrana RadulovicSep 13, 2024
My Old Ass is about growing up — the joy, the pain, and those little moments that resonate with us far longer than we think they will — and Park smartly pulls it off by drawing on Elliott’s perspectives of both the past and the present. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgSep 13, 2024
With standout performances from Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza, it sticks the landing beautifully—don’t be surprised if it ends up on your favorites list, too. Read full review
83
Original-CinJim SlotekSep 19, 2024
Still, as a premise it’s irresistible. And Megan Park’s funny and touching My Old Ass brings a fresh twist to a mystically-assisted two-way generational life lesson that, in the movies, has usually involved switching bodies. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodJan 21, 2024
Ultimately, not only has Park crafted an often hilarious and entertaining coming-of-age movie, but a surprise tearjerker. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'HaraSep 30, 2024
Smart, and sharp enough to balance the sweetness of its simple yet profound message. All we have is time, and this film reminds us, movingly, that it matters how we spend it. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeSep 29, 2024
It’s a fun, silly premise, but while there’s no shortage of stoner humour, the film is deeper and considerably more satisfying than the drug-baked adolescent wisecracking might initially suggest. Read full review
80
Total FilmAnna SmithSep 25, 2024
It's a puzzler that holds the interest throughout the film, but there's plenty besides to enjoy, from Plaza's mysterious, comical appearances to Stella's candid chats with her friends – including West Side Story’s Maddie Ziegler as Ruthie – about life, relationships and everything. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradySep 25, 2024
My Old Ass sensitively and sweetly negotiates coming-of-age themes, first love, wistful summer recollections and wise-cracking dialogue. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreSep 13, 2024
My Old Ass has the premise of a broad comedy and the soul of a bittersweet coming-of-age story. And one of the reasons that it works so disarmingly well is that it doesn’t treat the former as a means of sneaking in the latter. Read full review
80
SlashfilmJeremy MathaiSep 12, 2024
Through it all, My Old Ass never loses sight of the big picture. Park weaves together theme, plot, and emotion through various montages with the skill of much more established filmmakers, knowing precisely when to tap the brakes and let scenes breathe for maximum impact. Read full review
80
IGNAlex StedmanJan 26, 2024
My Old Ass is a sweet, hilarious coming-of-age story anchored by Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella’s excellent comedic and emotional chemistry. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 23, 2024
My Old Ass is a slender film, but it’s so nicely judged and so infused with a generosity of spirit toward all its characters, across the generations, that its sentimentality acquires substance. Read full review
80
ColliderRoss BonaimeJan 22, 2024
My Old Ass manages to show youth from two different perspectives in an endearing and sympathetic way and shows that Park is a remarkable talent that can capture intricate, hard-to-present ideas with ease. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAnthony KaufmanJan 21, 2024
The fantastical elements soon fade away and the film becomes grounded in the tender realities of growing up, finding oneself and questions about love, sexuality, home, family, and the future. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 21, 2024
There’s a surprisingly grand emotional punch, arriving suddenly and landing with force. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenNov 14, 2024
As long as the movie remains a lightly comic meditation on aging, relationships, and time—say, a junior Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—it’s fantastic and frequently moving. But large chunks veer into television-drama territory, where the movie operates in a more generic register. Read full review
75
Rolling StoneDavid FearSep 27, 2024
Elliott is a recognizable archetype. Thanks to Park’s writing and Stella’s ridiculously charismatic performance, she’s anything but a generic one. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 27, 2024
When My Old Ass works, it’s comically judgmental, droll in the ennui the older feel about the young and sentimental about what you’re missing out on by focusing on the impulse of the moment. Read full review
75
TheWrapAriana MartinezJan 21, 2024
Park creates a genuine tenderness that Stella beautifully captures, but the narrative itself paints a habitual tale of retrospect and the enlightenment of being in the present. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshSep 13, 2024
The moment Park focuses her screenplay on — the weeks before leaving for college — is well-trodden territory for young-adult movies. To counter this, she has an uncommonly strong script for the genre, balancing the sappy and sentimental with a slangy skater-queer-cool-kid voice inhabited comfortably by both Stella and Plaza. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 13, 2024
My Old Ass is a bit crazy. It’s also winning, in the gentlest, sweetest way. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerSep 12, 2024
Writer/director Megan Park follows up her debut feature, the South by Southwest award winning high school shooting drama The Fallout, with another look into the lives of teenagers. But whereas her first film took a suffocating dive into the emotional extremes of their inner lives, coming-of-age comedy My Old Ass is sweeter without being cloying. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandJan 21, 2024
While some of the film’s more under-baked narrative elements might distract at times, Park and her cast still use them to build to an authentic, well-earned final act, one that should resonate with asses young and old. Read full review
65
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerSep 11, 2024
Even as Plaza’s character and presence nudges the movie out of its comfort zone, the youthful, romantic recklessness it tries to celebrate feels theoretical – a lesson, not a life. Read full review
63
Washington PostTy BurrSep 20, 2024
As written by Park and performed by Stella and Plaza — both players with crack comic timing — the interplay between the two Elliotts is the best part of “My Old Ass.” Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithSep 12, 2024
The world of My Old Ass retains a lived-in quality, in large part due to the shrewd, sensitive way in which it treats the emotional struggles of its teenage characters. Read full review
63
The Associated PressMark KennedySep 11, 2024
Director-writer Megan Park has crafted a wistful coming-of-age tale using this comedic device for “My Old Ass” and the results are uneven even though she nails the landing. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 21, 2024
Ninety percent of the movie is a very pleasant watch. All “My Old Ass” needed was a few more conversations with Elliott’s family and friends to provide more closure for her and the film. Read full review
60
Time OutSaskia Morrison-ThiaguSep 27, 2024
Don’t expect too many boundaries to be pushed – that’s not Park’s intention here – but settle in for plenty of big laughs and relatable truths. Read full review
58
The Film StageJordan RaupJan 23, 2024
My Old Ass yearns to go down easy and succeeds at such, but one wishes it dug a bit deeper into its Pollyannaish script and aesthetic. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerSep 12, 2024
Though its bold genre gamble and strong lead turn from Maisy Stella keep My Old Ass from the YA slush pile, its feint towards being a more cerebral movie about hope and regret, two opposing forces separated only by time, infects the mediocrity of its more traditional story with disappointment. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 27, 2024
While there’s still (arguably) some fun to be had with this independent comedy’s double-entendre-friendly title, the laughs – such as they are – don’t extend a great deal further than that. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 26, 2024
Plaza’s natural toughness gives this film some texture, but the truth is she isn’t in it much. You can spend very, very long stretches of the running time longing for her to re-emerge. So, when she doesn’t, it feels bland. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalZachary BarnesSep 12, 2024
When it comes to taking this premise in interesting directions, however, Ms. Park proves inept. Read full review
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