Film Review: Thelma

5 Stars

By Joseph Beyer | July 13, 2024

It's estimated that elder scams—crimes targeting people over 60 years old—steal over $3 billion dollars a year from vulnerable golden-agers. Most of us know someone personally who has been duped by the endless array of phishing, spamming, and increasingly sophisticated crimes preying on retirement and savings accounts.

In the delightfully unexpected new comedy from writer and director Josh Margolin, one such victim of such crimes decides to fight back, and her name is Thelma. Yes, she’s 93 years old. No, she can’t drive anymore. Yes, her loving family thinks she’s losing her marbles. But, no, she is not finished with this life even though society tells her she should be.

The plot is simple: after she’s fooled into sending $10,000 cash in the mail thinking she’s helping her grandson Daniel, Thelma decides to take matters into her own hands, and so begins a chase to find the criminals, get her money back, and prove to the world that she can still take care of herself. The themes of that journey, however, are remarkably complex: confronting our limitations, finding purpose as we age, and resolving our dual senses of wonder and confusion in this life.

In the hands of career actress June Squibb (who was genuinely 93 when she filmed the part), Thelma is at once vulnerable, wise, and cunning in ways that make her the perfect heroine for the Mission Impossible of taking on a world that has long dismissed her. Squibb’s flawless performance will have you rooting for her to succeed at the same time that you have tears in your eyes worrying about her inner life. It’s an inspired achievement, and Squibb is sure to be an awards-season favorite for it.

While defiant and independent, Thelma (like all of us) needs help, and through her onscreen adventures, she reconnects with friends and family in profound ways.

Centered in the story is her relationship with her grandson Daniel (played with a wonderful soft touch by Fred Hechinger), who gives her a sense of connectedness and an intergenerational longing to see the future and how it all turns out. Thelma also has to reconnect with her daughter and son-in-law, who both mean well but have stopped seeing her as a whole person (played by actors Parker Posey in a sharp neurotic edginess and Clark Gregg in a reserved spin, respectively).

But the most touching bond in the film is the one she rekindles with her old friend Ben—himself aging and struggling to feel vibrant and meaningful—in whom she sees her own decline. Played in a stunning revelation of sophisticated talent by legendary blaxploitation actor Richard Roundtree of Shaft fame, Ben becomes her closest friend and confidante as they rally together for relevancy in a world that treasures youth and despises wrinkles. Their chemistry is an epiphany.

Using terrific writing, sage performances, and expressing a contemporary rage that “Mark Zuckemborg” from “The Facebook” should do more to protect people online, Thelma is a treatise on many things at once and a surprisingly moving experience in just 1 hour and 38 minutes.

It’s a story about growing old, yes. But also of the longevity of love itself to cross the barriers of time and space, making it, ultimately, the most immortal element there is.

Available exclusively in theaters, Thelma is rated PG-13 and can be enjoyed side-by-side with everyone in your family. Hang back for the credits to see a special clip of the real-life Thelma the film is dedicated to for a heartbreaking stinger.

Photo credit David Bolen