THELMA
(director/writer: Josh Margolin; cinematographer: David Bolen; editor: Josh Margolin; music: Nick Chuba; cast: June Squibb (Thelma), Fred Hechinger (Daniel), Richard Roundtree (Ben), Parker Posey (Gail), Clark Gregg (Alan), Malcolm McDowell (Harvey), Aidan Fiske (Michael), Bunny Levine (Mona), Zoe Worth (Theater Director), Chase Kim (Detective Morgan), Hilda Boulware (Woman at Post Office), Carol Cetrone (Dancer), Coral Pena (Allie), Nicole Byer (Rochelle), Quinn Beswick (Colin); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Zoe Worth, Chris Kaye, Nicholas Weinstock, Benjamin Simpson, Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani; Magnolia Pictures; 2024)
“June Squibb is a delight.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Josh Margolin is a first time feature film director.
Thelma Post (June Squibb) is an LA residing 93-year-old grandma who gets conned out of $10,000 in a telephone scam and the police offer no help. She’s told to move on from that bad experience and not get fooled again by her ditsy daughter Gail (Parker Posey), her uptight son-in-law Alan (Clark Gregg), and screw-up grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger).
Instead Thelma uses the theft as a chance to give her a renewed purpose in life, as she tries to retrieve her money from the scammers. Her late husband’s widowed old friend Ben (Richard Roundtree, who once played Shaft), is living in a nursing home, and assists her in this difficult task. Thelma borrows without his permission his mobility scooter and searches the LA streets for a P.O. box, her only clue.
Laughs come for the likable character, as we watch the techie-stunted senior citizen awkwardly try to use a computer mouse to scroll.
The more serious theme is that the seniors are rotting away in their old age and are living unproductive lives, and are mostly forgotten by their families.
A complex guy, connected to an oxygen tank, is the owner of a junk store, named Harvey (Malcolm McDowell), who turns out to be the scammer head. How Thelma deals with him, gives the lighthearted film its best moments.
The comical revenge action pic while funny, nevertheless deals with serious issues such as aging, the gullible getting ripped off by scammers and how the crime fighters can’t tackle this cyber crime wave sweeping the country. But, most of all, June Squibb is a delight.
It played at the Sundance Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 6/25/2024 GRADE: B