Thelma

"Taking from an elderly person is as bad as stealing from a child." The Beekeeper

I liked Jason Statham's exclamation and reason for violence (above) as he seeks revenge on scammers of a kindly old friend. Thelma (June Squibb at 93 years old) in the current titular action/comedy tries to help her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) in need of being bailed out of trouble, so the scammers say. Sending them cash was not just a bad move; it also revealed the electronic vulnerability of the elderly.

Josh Margolin, in his debut as a director and the writer who recollects his aging grandmother, has a firm hand on the whimsical adventure as Thelma tracks down the crooks while keeping her dignity and avoiding the cliches of the old-folks drama. We know she's already had a brain tumor, sepsis, edema, hip replacement, double mastectomy, and valve replacement, but we also know she's a survivor, leaving her family less able to handle her aging's infirmity than she.

Margolin gives her no heroic speeches but rather shows by using mostly her point of view a human being of sweet, even temper not ready to give in to the grim reaper. After all, her spirit animal is Mission Impossible.

Pleasantly the film rolls around Thelma's need for independence, which she handles well, as the family considers if it's time to talk assisted living. Because she'll have none of that, she drives a scooter with her friend, Ben (a skilled Richard Roundtree in his final role), to find the malefactor, Harvey (Malcolm McDowell, lending his considerable chops to a film that could well use another seasoned cinema vet). Autonomy rules for Thelma.

Although the film's setup slows its pace, it take its Geritol in the last half with the confrontation and resolution. Thelma shows it's not too late for the aging to use the Internet and to take life by the horns. The virtue of this sometimes-flaccid actioner is its respect for the aging and condemnation of ageism.

No infantilization of the elderly here-just an honest depiction of old bodies, sharp minds, and loving family bonds, the best Geritol ever.

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

"Thelma" isn't perfect but as a whole, it is a fun and entertaining movie about the lives of elderly people, issues of scam calls and family with fun energy, good direction and a wonderful performance from June Squibb. Director Josh Margolin does a pretty good job on blending comedic and dramatic elements together into the narrative with good humor, fun characters and interesting dynamics between the characters. Squibb's character was highly entertaining to observe and while the other characters were okay, I found each of the characters to have some decent chemistry and energy together.

The production is solid, the camerawork is okay, and the dialogue is pretty good, while some moments could be better. Margolin has a lot of fun references to Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible and he was able to add the jokes and references well into the narrative and action that is occurring in the movie. Although I did found the ending to be slightly anticlimactic and a little unrealistic, as a whole, the heart in the movie is strong and Margolin clearly put a lot of passionate into this project.

Fun movie to watch with friends and it really is sweet.

This is the kind of movie that was popular in the 90's. A feel-good comedy clocking in at an hour and a half. No big action scenes, no CGI, no superheroes, no T&A, and ABSOLUTELY NO POLITICS. Pretty much the bane of modern audiences, but that's just fine because modern audiences have no taste.

The movie follows Thelma, a 93 year old woman who is conned out of some money. When she won't let it go, her family starts to worry about her living on her own, but her grandson has her back. She sets out to get what's hers, but instead of shooting a bunch of stupid action scenes with old people doing wirework pretending to do kung-fu, it keeps everything within the realities of what a 93 year old can do. The scenes presented as action scenes are done so for comedic effect. June Squibb and Richard Rountree (RIP) were great, Fred Hechinger reminds me sooo much of Joaquin Phoenix (which is a good thing), and Clark Gregg/Parker Posey are always good. I'm struggling to find anything negative to say, really. Maybe a little more Malcolm McDowell?

It's a quick, fun movie with some creativity, and it handles the challenges that the elderly face in a modern world very tastefully.

June Squibb is an interesting actress, today as I write this she is 95, she was 93 when this movie was shot. She started acting in theatrical productions in her 20s, even played a stripper when she was 30. She didn't start her movie career until she was 61. This movie, "Thelma", is built around her.

She is Thelma, living alone in the L. A. area, her family encourages her to always wear her emergency monitor, in case she falls and they will be notified. But she is stubborn, she doesn't always wear it and tells her grandson that is why she is careful and avoids falling.

One day she gets a call, presumably from her grandson who says he was in a car accident, he hit a pregnant lady, then puts "the lawyer" on the phone. He says it is very serious, she needs to go to the bank and take out $10,000 in cash and mail it to the address he provides.

This is a serious crime in real life, almost every day we hear in the news of a man or woman, usually elderly, losing thousands in sophisticated phone scams. The one depicted in this movie is rather amateurish but the caper makes for a funny story.

Richard Roundtree of "Shaft" fame all those years ago is a good addition as old friend Ben. He is in assisted living now (sadly in real life he passed away just last year) and has a three-wheeled two-person electric scooter that comes in handy to look up the P. O. box where the cash was sent.

The first six minutes of the movie are very slow, establishing the characters. The hunt caper on the scooter goes on a bit too long, but the last 15 to 20 minutes are very entertaining.

At home on DVD from our public library, with two short "extras" that aren't very interesting. My wife and I enjoyed the movie as light entertainment. June Squibb is still very energetic in her 90s.

When did the late great Richard Roundtree becomes the cat who's the sex machine for all the old White chicks? He played Jane Fonda's love interest in Moving On now he's June Squibb's partner in this "Crime Thriller" This new trend to make movies starring older actresses lost one of their best romantic leads in 2023.

This movie needed an action star to justify it and it got that in Shaft. It also had a decent character villain in Malcom McDowell, which justifies my perception of it. I mean it has the prefect action premise: "They stole her money now she has to get it back!" It's funny how because the cast was old as dirt it made a lot of things, they were doing far more suspenseful: walking upstairs, riding a moped, falling. I do feel like you got to be the right age to feel the danger and be able to laugh at it. If I was 30 to 40 years older I possible think this was a horror flick.

So yeah, it was a delightful film about what grandma means to everyone when they get old enough to need to worry about them more than usually. A bit grim if you are coming to that age when you are a burden to one's family. Also, a touching love letter for a filmmaker who obviously loved his own grandmother.

The emotional thrill ride was intense even though most of the cast can't move that fast but it definitely makes you want to call your grandma after it's over.