SPOILERS are ahead for My Old Ass.
My Old Ass is one of those 2024 movies that just completely snuck up on me and simply won my heart. Sure, I knew I had to see another comedy starring Aubrey Plaza, but it’s one of the best coming-of-age concepts I’ve seen in years. The movie follows a high school senior named Elliott who decides to go on a mushroom trip with her friends for her birthday and ends up connecting with her 39-year-old self (Plaza), who leaves much to be desired. It has a lot of profound things to say, but one subject that’s worth talking about is how it handles its queer protagonist.
At the beginning of My Old Ass, Maisy Stella’s Elliott is established as an out and proud queer woman who is comfortable in her sexuality. The storyline makes it known that she is into girls, so when her older self tells her to watch out for a guy named Chad, she’s really taken aback. As the plot continues to unfold, Elliott gets to know Chad, despite warnings from the elder version of herself, and to her surprise, she falls in love with him. As she laments to her friend Ro in one key scene, she is suddenly questioning the sexuality she was so sure about. “Is she bisexual?” she asks. Sexuality is a lot less clear cut than she thought.
In the unexpected coming out scene, Ro comforts Elliott’s confusion by letting her know that she’s not any “less queer” for suddenly liking a man. It delivers a nuanced perspective that we haven’t seen a lot among bisexual characters in the past. Here’s what writer/director Megan Park shared with me about the sequence:
It was such an important scene and that line specifically… is so important to that moment. I just had never seen a character who identified one thing [and changes her mind]. It’s usually the other way around, you know? And, coming out stories are really important, but this was sort of hopefully a fresh take on sort of that queer conversation that I think feels a little more authentic to Gen Z, and definitely to Elliot. And, it was really important to get it right in the script, and we talked to a lot of people and we made sure that it really tracked and felt real and grounded.
In an age where more Gen Z people are perhaps exploring their queer identities at younger stages in their lives, Park felt this super different coming out scene might act as a fresh take on a popular beat that has become a cliché in LGBTQ+ movies. In My Old Ass, Eliott realizes that she had more to explore within her sexuality than she thought about herself in the 17 years of her life. As many of us can attest, no matter which gender or genders you may be attracted to, what we know at 17 does not stay true forever. Stella also told CinemaBlend this:
That scene alone was like one of my favorites. And that line, from the first time I read that script, was one of my favorite lines of the movie. And I think that my favorite thing to see in movies and especially coming of age, just like I really enjoy watching genuine confusion and self-exploration. I find it really comforting to watch because I’ve experienced so much confusion and self-exploration in my everyday life that getting to do that was actually really satisfying for me – especially in a way of like sexual identity and sexual confusion. And I don’t know, it actually was one of the safer parts of the script to me. And, we talked about it all so much and made sure that it felt right and felt just genuine and honest. I think playing a character that’s only being honest with themselves is always gonna be something that I find beautiful.
During CinemaBlend’s interview with Park and Stella, they talked about how helpful Margot Robbie was as a producer on My Old Ass as well. The movie is now playing in theaters now.