On her eighteenth birthday, Elliott (Maisy Stella) and her two best friends, Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) go to the woods for a special celebration: they are going to try hallucinogenic mushrooms. Maisy’s experience is quite unusual. She finds herself sitting next to her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). A PhD student, Older Elliott has learned some lessons in her life so far – she’s a bit cynical – and she is eager to advise Younger Elliott what she should do.
Elliott is intrigued and eager to learn from her “Old Ass” – the name she enters in her phone so they can keep in touch. Old Ass recommends she spend more time with her brothers and her mother. They live on a cranberry farm in Canada which, to Elliott’s shock, the family is about to sell. Now her going away to college in Toronto will mean leaving her childhood home forever.
Old Ass also advises her strongly not to get involved with a boy named Chad (Percy Hynes White), who (of course) turns out to be a college student working on the cranberry farm. Old Ass won’t explain why, but there must be some regrets involved in any relationship with Chad.
Would you like to meet your older self? What would you want to know about your future? If your old ass has any regrets, would you want to be aware of them so you could avoid causing them while you are young? Or is it wrong to fuss with fate? Can you learn from mistakes and taking chances?
There are obvious messages here about living in the present moment, trusting your own ability to make choices, and embracing change: all spiritual work. This comedy is a fine catalyst to such reflections, and it even has a happy ending!