Scratching My Old Ass

My Old Ass, a dramedy that popped up at the end of 2024, seems at first glance a raunchy teen flick, full of lots of giggling, girl-on-girl sex, and gorgeous vistas of the Canadian countryside. It’s only later that the viewer discovers the film’s tender heart. And realizes that writer/director Megan Park, a Canadian multi-talent who has much more on her mind than teenage vulgarity, is headed for a bright future.

 It's the end of summer, a very poignant time if you’re about to leave home for college in the big  bad city. Elliott and her gal pals (why this trend of giving leading ladies masculine character names?) are camping on the shore of a local lake, celebrating Elliott’s eighteenth birthday and  pondering what the future will hold. There’s a ceremonial ingestion of magic mushrooms,  and Elliott wakes up in her tent to discover an unexpected visitor, a thirty-something version of herself (Aubrey Plaza).

 Elliott is skeptical, of course, but is finally persuaded that this older pal is a future incarnation of herself, sent to guide her on her pathway toward adulthood. It all sounds helpful . . . until Older Elliott sternly warns her not to have anything to do with a guy named Chad. No prob: she doesn’t know anyone named Chad. But then . . . a nice-looking young man comes paddling up, and she’s trying hard not to be smitten.

 The film’s central section has Elliott desperately trying to avoid Chad, for reasons that she can’t explain and her “old ass” (who’s just a phone call away) refuses to clarify. Chad is kind, smart, and good-looking: what’s not to like? It’s not until late in the movie that Elliott decides—despite all the warnings—that Chad is just too good to be removed from her life. It’s then that Older Elliott finally admits how and why a relationship with Chad will upend her life . . .  and belatedly agrees that, despite it all, he is worth the pain that will inevitably arise.

 Far be it from me to spill all the script’s secrets. Let’s just say here that this wacky teen comedy evolves into a serious exploration of the heartache that is all a part of growing up and moving out into the world. (Aside from the whole Chad business, Elliott needs to come to terms with her parents, who’re suddenly planning to sell the cranberry farm on  which she was raised, And she needs to make peace with her younger brothers, whose goals in life seem hugely different from her own.)

 The coming of age dramedy has always been popular with movie-going audiences, dating back to Mickey Rooney in the Andy Hardy films. In my own generation, The Graduate (1967) was the movie that spelled out the joys and pitfalls of impending adulthood. The year 1978 saw an exuberant high school musical based on the stage hit, Grease. The previous year had brought us the star of Grease, John Travolta, girding up to move beyond Brooklyn in Saturday Night Fever. The Eighties were, of course, the era of John Hughes, who—in films like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink—explored the pain and pleasure of high school.

 The eighteen-year-olds of M y Old Ass are hardly as innocent as the Andy Hardy gang or even John Hughes’ youthful ensembles. Sex and drugs are definitely a part of their lives. Still, they remain good kids, tentatively checking out the world they’re going to inherit. I defy you not to be touched..