The sound of a motor revving. Tires screeching against the surface. A vehicle bursts out of a building into the street, our hero at the wheel. No, this isn’t an action epic film ala Mission: Impossible, it’s Thelma, a starring vehicle for a generation’s surrogate grandma, June Squibb. The film held its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
(Courtesy of Sundance Institute/photo by David Bolen)
Widow Thelma Post is still mostly independent, although her beloved adult grandson, Nicholas (Fred Hechinger, Pam & Tommy), regularly stops by to help her, particularly with her computer. So when she gets a frantic phone call from “her grandson,” who was arrested and needs her to mail $10,000 in cash to a PO Box ASAP for bail, she follows the instructions… and then she learns she was scammed. Inspired by the Tom Cruise action movies she watched with Nicholas when the police fail to take action, Thelma takes matters into her own hands.
Thelma is a hilarious and heartwarming comedy about aging with dignity and on the terms you set for yourself. Thelma’s daughter (Parker Posey, Beau is Afraid) and son-in-law (Clark Gregg, Agent Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) think it’s time for her to enter an assisted living facility, which is ironic as she springs one of her few living friends out of one, Ben (the late Richard Roundtree, to whom the film is dedicated). His sleek, red scooter becomes their equivalent of a sports car as they go as far as its battery charge will take them.
While the film finds a lot of comedy in a senior citizen-style M:I mission, including using hearing aids as a gadget, it manages to avoid being over the top with it. Nick Chuba’s score occasionally leans into action/spy motifs, but only temporarily to underscore a joke. Otherwise, the film’s score matches its generally sweet tone.
Part of Thelma’s brilliance rests in its tri-generation cast of leads. The middle aged parents represent stability and full autonomy, with control over both Nicholas and Thelma. Nicholas is just past entering adulthood, feeling lost and overwhelmed about how to live his life. Thelma is somewhat in her last hurrah, trying not to give up the same level of control that her daughter has, while also coming to terms with what her next move will be, which will likely be similar to Ben’s current arrangement.
Writer/director Josh Margolin delivers an unforgettable epic about retaining autonomy. He finds comedy and drama in the perils of getting old, much in the way Pete Doctor did in Pixar’s Up. And while it doesn’t come close to turning on the waterworks in the same way, when the credits begin to roll, and you meet Margolin’s real grandmother, who inspired this story, it’s hard not to feel even more connected to the story.
I give Thelma 5 out of 5 cross stitch kits.