Movie Review: Thelma

Danny (Fred Hechinger) is feeling stagnant and adrift in life and his parents Gail (Parker Posey) and Alan (Clark Gregg) are constantly after him to get himself together. But his grandmother, Thelma (June Squibb), is a constant source of joy for him, as the two share a sweetly affectionate closeness. Since she is 93-years-old and living alone, Danny stops by to see her often, both to spend time and check up on her.

Late one morning, Thelma receives a phone call from Danny sounding panicked. He claims he was in an accident with a pregnant woman and is now in jail and that someone will call her shortly with more information. When she asks why he sounds different he says he broke his nose in the accident. The promised other caller comes through and claims that to resolve the matter she should mail $10,000 in cash to him right away. Not wanting her grandson to suffer Thelma immediately begins scrounging together the money and gets a taxi to the Post Office. On the way she tries calling Danny, her daughter and her son-in-law, but no one answers until finally Gail notices the missed calls and rings her back, too late to prevent her from mailing the payment.

As you may have guessed, that wasn’t Danny on the phone and the entire thing was a scam. Thelma’s family is primarily relieved that she is home safe, but Thelma herself feels rightly upset that she was robbed, and so they go to the Police. Unfortunately, she lost the paper she wrote the scammers’ address on and so there is nothing they can do. Not wanting to let it go however, she decides to take action on her own, and so she walks back to the Post Office, locates the paper with the address on it in a waste bin, and then heads to a nursing home to enlist her old friend Ben (Richard Roundtree) to use his new 2-seater electric scooter to help her get back her money.

As portrayed by June Squibb, Thelma is one of the most endearingly memorable characters to hit the screen. She exudes a natural joy with life, happily stopping strangers in the street to wonder over how they might have met before and is then still just as cheery sending them on their way when she discovers they don’t know each other after all. All that optimism doesn’t mean she is a pushover though, as she is all too eager to prove herself capable of handling any matter on her own, even when she should perhaps be more accepting of the help of others. Squibb truly embodies the role, infusing her with life and making her feel wholly believable.

Squibb and Hechinger have an easygoing chemistry with each other, with every moment they spend on screen ringing true. It’s a beautiful portrayal of the bond that can exist between grandparent and grandchild and helps to elevate the overall story. Likewise, Roundtree’s final film role is a charmer that allows him to go out on a genuine high note. Thelma and Ben’s adventures on screen essentially amount to an extended slow-speed chase and it is delightful to watch.

Making his feature film debut, writer / director / editor Josh Margolin has marked himself out as a talent to watch. Based on his real grandmother and inspired by an incident that actually happened to her (in reality she was fortunately prevented from paying the scammers), he has crafted a loving homage to an important person in his life, that also takes a look at the experience of aging, familial love, and the ways we as humans can struggle to find a balance between accepting help and our desire to maintain our independence at any age. Thelma is sweet, charming, often laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly suspenseful. This is the best comedy of the year so far and likely to be the feel-good movie of 2024. ★★★★★