| Thelma is one of the best movies about aging you’ll ever see, all wrapped up in a thoroughly entertaining, absolutely hilarious story. Thelma (June Squibb) is 93 years old and still living on her own. Her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) comes over regularly, he helps her check her email on her computer and reminds her to wear her life alert bracelet - she refuses because she can take care of herself on her own. | | 2024
Directed by: Josh Margolin
Screenplay by: Josh Margolin
Starring: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger
|
When Thelma gets a phone call supposedly from Danny in jail and needing ten thousand dollars, she does everything the caller says including mailing off the cash, and then she calls Danny’s parents – Parker Posey as her daughter Gail in one of the funniest roles Posey has had in years, and Clark Gregg perfectly cast as her son-in-law Alan. Mom and Dad are in hysterics (which turns out is not an unusual state of being for them) as they call Danny who eventually answers after his afternoon nap.
With the family finally united and calm, the important thing is that everybody is safe. Danny is fine, Thelma was just another victim of a common phone scam but still has her health and now has the knowledge to hopefully not fall for the same scam again in the future. Thelma has other plans – track down the scammers and get her money back.
What follows is a very thoughtful, very accurate exploration of aging and the different responses to it, but all of that is beneath the surface. On the surface is a non-stop laugh riot with stolen scooters, a medium-speed chase within a retirement home, and a nonagenarian foiling her family’s plans to get her back in her home safe and sound.
June Squibb is hilarious, Richard Roundtree as her unwilling partner in crime provides the sane and grounded counterpoints to Thelma’s mostly unreasonable ideas; meanwhile Fred Hechinger continues to make a name for himself as the unemployed but good-natured and loving grandson.
The brilliance of Thelma comes through in how accurate and representative of aging it is while simultaneously being a Tom Cruise-inspired action movie (although I cannot confirm if June Squibb does her own stunts). Thelma hates asking for help, because to her that’s a weakness; she’s fairly stoic about all of her friends who have passed on but she’s not ready to accept how close she is. Danny is mired in a quarter-life crisis, courtesy of not believing he can do anything after a recent break-up. There was a conversation between Danny and his parents where they were telling him what new career he should get, and I have witnessed many almost identical conversations between friends and their parents.
Films about aging, even the ones that try to throw in comedy, tend to be very maudlin, but Thelma is so refreshingly hilarious that it never gets bogged down by emotion. It’s authentic while still being genuinely funny. This is a must watch for the entire family. I also recommend throwing on closed captions that way you can at least read the next line that you can’t hear because everyone is laughing so hard.
|
