Written by: Megan Park
Directed by: Megan Park
Starring: Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza, Percy Hynes White
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her 39-year-old self. But when Elliott's "old ass" delivers warnings to her younger self, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about her family, life, and love.
Verdict
Where does reality stop and fantasy begin? The logic is inconsistent, but this is actually a coming of age teen movie as Elliot is in the limbo between high school and university. She has to confront how life is changing and the idea that she's becoming an adult. Instead she's confronted by her adult self. The Old Elliot is a gimmick that makes this genre piece more interesting by providing warnings and foreshadowing. Unfortunately it could have been more consistent. While it's not the movie's point, it's such an easy fix. Outside of that, the movie captures that part of life exceptionally well with dialog and emotions that feels real and an impressive performance from Maisy Stella.
Watch It.
Review
Elliot (Maisy Stella) wants to hang out with her friends before she leaves for university. They plan to get high on mushrooms, but Elliot's trip causes her to see an older version of herself, Old Elliot (Aubrey Plaza). It's a contrast of the young, excited, and curious Elliot versus the older, sullen, and unfulfilled Elliot. Part of that is age and maturity, but there's also something more to it.
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| Aubrey Plaza, Maisy Stella play Old Elliot, Elliot |
If you try to parse the logic of this movie you're not going to enjoy it. It's unclear how it works. What starts out as strange trip generates more questions when Elliot and Old Elliot began calling and texting. Is the entire movie a trip? Is this some kind of nexus outside of time and space? Is it just her imagination? If it's a hallucination, how do they interact when Elliot isn't on anything? If Old Elliot really exists why doesn't she look like young Elliot? If it's just a hallucination that's easy to explain away.
Old Elliot encourages Elliot to spend time with her family and the only concrete advice is to stay away from Chad. Unfortunately Chad is kind of weird and charming which makes it difficult for Elliot to avoid him as her attraction grows. It's easy to see where this is going.
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| Maisy Stella plays Elliot |
This is a coming of age story that just features a strange hallucination to hook you. Older Elliot provides mystery and intrigue for the plot. Otherwise this is a typical, though well done, genre movie. Elliot has to reconcile the leap from childhood to adulthood as she heads to university. Life is changing in a multitude of ways, and she's also dealing with a lot of unique romantic feelings on top of conversing with her older self. This is that one last summer when you leave childhood behind. Stella provides a great performance that carries the movie, and there's enough slang to make the dialog sound authentic.
While the reality of this movie has gaps, it's a gimmick to set this apart and get noticed. Unfortunately it's also the movie's biggest sticking point. This could have maintained that Older Elliot is just a hallucination and appears when under the influence to maintain consistency instead of muddling fantasy and reality. It's a neat idea to give voice to Elliot's fears and concerns as an imagined older version of herself. Making Old Elliot actually real generates too many unanswered questions.
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