Major spoilers below for My Old Ass, so be warned if you haven't yet streamed the offbeat comedy with an Amazon Prime subscription.
A 2024 movie debut whose emotional core may be unexpected after hearing its ridiculous title, Megan Park's My Old Ass is a fun and quirky coming-of-age tale, as well as a teen coming-out story, with a dash of cautionary sci-fi fantasy for narrative thrust. I truly adored Nashville vet Maisy Stella's college-bound Elliott, as well as Aubrey Plaza's older version of the character, and their shared-yet-separate journey.
My Old Ass is relatable in all kinds of ways, even for someone like me who is admittedly quite far from Elliott's demographic, and its message about living for yourself today is easily as wholesome and charming as a comedy moral gets in 2024. But something that's maybe less universally familiar and conceptually understandable is the movie's most amusingly bonkers kiss scene, which is somehow not even the biggest WTF on-screen smooch for an Aubrey Plaza character in 2024.
Elliott Kissing An Older Version Of Herself Is Pretty Weird And Unique
As viewers are aware, My Old Ass' core concept revolves around Plaza's Elliott mysteriously jaunting back to the past to chat it up with her shroom-imbibing teen self. (A feat that once again transpires later in the movie after Older Elliott eats a bunch of weed.) And everything about their initial meeting, as it were, felt right on the money, from the disbelief to immediate questions about gaming time for financial gains.
Yeah, I'd also go so far as to say even Elliott's later curiosity about what kissing herself is like falls under the umbrella of "somewhat relatable instincts." I personally don't ever reacall practicing kissing against a mirror, but have no judgment for anybody that's done it. I might have felt slightly less in tune with the scene had it turned into a sweaty makeout sesh, but it was easily the most PG-friendly kiss in the movie.
It's definitely not a moment that's played out in very many movies or TV shows, though I guess I haven't seen ALL the Timecop follow-ups to speak for those. It's a very Bill and Ted move, as is the off-screen marijuana usage. However....
It's Still Not As Weird And Unique As Aubrey Plaza's Big Kiss In Agatha All Along
Spoilers below for Agatha All Along for anyone who hasn't yet streamed the season with a Disney+ subscription.
What could be more one-of-a-kind than someone temporarily locking lips with their future-self? The personification of Death kissing arguably the world's most powerful witch...to death. That one takes the cake along with the entire bakery.
Interestingly enough, Plaza's arrival in Agatha's premiere also involves a character hallucinating, albeit through a witch's curse and not psilocybin. But rather than showing off its left-of-center kiss early on, as it went with My Old Ass, the MCU series only danced around Rio and Agatha's past relationship for the first seven episodes, with Rio's true identity also being kept secret. (Not the best kept secret, because Funko.)
The penultimate episode, however, followed up on the Death reveal by giving viewers the Rio Vs. Agatha fight that was brewing all along. But only after things came to blows did Kathryn Hahn's seemingly immortal witch make the shocking decision to sacrifice herself by planting a big kiss on Rio's lips, which siphoned death-magic into Agatha, soon killing her. I'm sure we all have a story just like that one, save for a small detail or two.
It's a good thing Megan Park's film didn't end with Plaza's Elliott killing Stella's Elliott with that kiss, or it might have completely shattered reality. My Old Paradoxical Ass might have been a better title in that case.
Though it has nothing to do with a kissing scene, per se, Aubrey Plaza's character name in Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis is also worthy of celebration in 2024. Three cheers for Wow Platinum! Three cheers for Rio! Three cheers for Older Elliott!
