If you’re the type of person who likes to see movies on the big screen, you know that most of the films at a local cineplex seem to be made for families who have small children, comic book superhero action adventures that appeal to 18-49 year olds, and a surfeit of horror movies. However, every now and then, a film like Thelma comes along.
Based in part on director Josh Margolin’s own grandmother, the story centers on 93 year old Thelma (played by June Squibb, who is 94 years old), a kindly, independent, and self-reliant old white woman whose life is pretty much similar to those who have been retired for decades: Thelma, does embroidery, struggles with technology, watches TV, does some minor exercises, and then heads to bed. She has a very close relationship with her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) who watches over her, helping her with things she doesn’t understand when it comes to navigating websites, emails, and a mouse. Though he doesn’t live with her, Danny is a caring grandson who worries about his grandmother and only wants her to live her remaining years with as much comfort, independence, and safety as she can.
One day while Thelma is home alone, she receives a phone call by scammer pretending to be Danny. Fake Danny claims he hit a pregnant woman with is car, is in jail, and will be receiving a call from an attorney. The “attorney” is, of course, part of the scam, and Thelma is soon conned out of $10,000 to pay for Fake Danny’s bail. When Thelma finally connects with her daughter Gail (Parker Posey), Danny, and son-in-law Alan (Clark Gregg), they race over to Thelma’s house to find out what happened. Thelma tells them about the scam and how horrible she feels about losing the money. Because Thelma sent the money (all cash) via USPS, and threw away the mailing address of the scammers, the police tell her that they can’t help her.
That’s the setup. What unfolds over the course of the next two acts is a lot of entertaining, but predictable hijinks that has Thelma leaving her home and enlisting the help of her friend Ben (Richard Roundtree, in his last performance). The two of them set out on a motorized scooter to find the scammers and get her money back — shortly after Thelma was able to find the mailing address of the scammers.
What Thelma has going for it is that it examines not only old age, but younger generations — especially Danny’s — and the kind of challenges they face. Thelma’s challenges are fairly obvious. She had a string of health issues (all managed now), the loss of a spouse, the loss of friends, some slippage of cognitive abilities, and feeling disconnected and lonely. She’s afraid that she’ll be put in a retirement home like her friend Ben, since her family doesn’t think she can live alone anymore after being scammed out of the money. Danny is a directionless twentysomething who mostly hangs with his friends, sleeps in, and laments breaking up with a young woman because he can’t seem to get his life together. His folks are Gen X helicopter parents whose overbearing personalties are used as comedic foils, but also as a commentary on their obsession with order that masks a chaotic neurosis.
The late Richard Rountree’s performance as Ben is a wonderful capstone to his career. He brings an incredible amount of warmth, wisdom, and comedic timing to the role. He also gets to deliver some really poignant lines about aging, community, and caring for one another. Ben knows his best days are long gone, but he’s not going to let age be a barrier to enjoying what’s left of his life. The adventure that he and Thelma go on to retrieve the stolen money is fraught with dangers, but the two of them never seem to let the world get the better of them. Instead, they use the technology designed to assist them with mobility, hearing loss, and communication in ways that add funny layers to a movie that’s predictable, but satisfying.
