Whether you’re 19 or 90, I guarantee you’ll be howling with laughter!
Simply put, some movies do not need a trailer to entice me to see them. I don’t always require a two and a half minute sizzle reel of the movie’s highlights to sway me into buying a ticket. It isn’t very often but sometimes all I need to go off is the premise of the movie and who’s starring in it. Like with Thelma (2024). All I had was a brief pitch of the movie, hardly more than a sentence, and the knowledge that it stars international treasure June Squibb. Baby, that’s all the persuasion I could possibly need to get my ass into the theatre. Yes, the audience of the 12:50 p.m. Monday showing was essentially me and a crowd of lovely seniors. Yes, we all traded popcorn for cups of tea. Yes, there were targeted ads like an anti-stroke PSA and a trailer for André Rieu’s 2024 Maastricht Concert: Power of Love (2024). And guess what? I (and judged on their reactions, everyone else) had one of the most ridiculously enjoyable moviegoing experiences in quite some time!
Written and directed by Josh Margolin, Thelma tells the story of 93-year-old Thelma Post, a loving grandmother who is duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson into giving her $10,000. Motivated to reclaim what’s rightfully hers, Thelma sets out on an unbelievable journey across the city to track down the con men who robbed her.
I was absolutely FLOORED to discover that at 94-years-old this was Squibb’s FIRST starring role. Can you freaking believe that?! Yes, she’s been a scene-stealer in supporting roles in movies like Would You Rather (2012), Nebraska (2013), and Table 19 (2017), but never before had she been a leading lady on the big screen. Thelma is more than enough proof that Squibb has an overflowing amount of charisma, screen presence and talent to headline every movie she’s cast in from here on out. God bless Margolin for not only writing this wildly funny script but deciding to cast Squibb as the titular character. Squibb is whip-smart and endlessly enjoyable. She could not be cuter and knows how to sell any joke with the greatest of ease. Squibb is incredibly watchable and shines whether she’s in a scene on her own or sharing it with one of Thelma’s many talented cast members.
The chemistry between Thelma and her grandson Danny is the heart of the movie and the relationship that Squibb and actor Fred Hechinger portray is perfection. I loved seeing this relationship! It’s so fun, playful, true to heart and what’s even better is that you instantly understand everything about it. Honestly, it filled me with a little bit of longing for my own grandmother. That’s how perfectly Margolin captures that indescribable bond between grandmother and grandchild. Margolin clearly has a knack for writing families because the way he depicts Danny’s overprotective parents, hilariously played by the incomparable Parker Posey and Clark Gregg is brilliant. The four of them feel like a real family unit full of love, frustration and struggles. An extension of that family unit is Richard Roundtree as Thelma’s reluctant sidekick, Ben. The two are a great duo and it’s not a want, but a need that I have to see future movies where the pair solve crimes together!
Thelma is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s a ridiculous, silly, family-oriented adventure that is guaranteed to have everyone chuckling. I mean, just imagine Betty White starring in a spy thriller. Hilarious! Thelma is almost Mel Brooks-ian. It knows exactly what it’s doing, what it is, and it’s perfect. Smart, inventive, and charming, this is an action-thriller for / through the eyes of seniors. It’s surprisingly harrowing and is brilliant how it makes a tense thriller out of the mundane. The obstacles Thelma faces are legitimate hurdles elderly people face daily and she ends up being faced with all of them and so much more over the course of just one day! What’s also so interesting about Thelma is that it’s not shy about showing the many ways we baby the elderly and in some ways, just blatantly mistreat and discredit them. Not in a preachy way, but either done through a lot of raucous humour or pensive introspection.
Thelma is incredibly satisfying. It’s a fantastic little action-comedy that is guaranteed to delight and entertain anyone, of any age, who watches it. It’s beautiful. Bring your grandma to the movies! You’ll both have an excellent time! Ugh, just remember to bring tissues for the very last frame of the movie, a brief clip of the real-life Thelma and a simple credit that reads, “For Thelma.” EXCUSE ME WHILE I BAWL FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR.
Have you seen Thelma?
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