‘Thelma’ review: How to age (and adventure) gracefully

June Squibb and the late great Richard Roundtree bring heart and soul to the hilarious caper Thelma.

It’s tough to see your grandparents get older. They’re the more fun version of your parents who will let you do anything you want and treat every problem with a hug. Then they start moving a little slower. Soon they need help doing things you assume all adults can do with ease. Next they have tables filled with strange pills instead of sweets. Every time you’d leave them, the goodbye hug lasts a little longer. Maybe because they need to hold you tighter just to stay standing. Maybe because you’re worried it’s the last time you’ll see them. If you’re going through all those emotions, imagine how Thelma feels?

A 93-year-old widow, Thelma (June Squibb) spends her days adjusting to life alone. She does needlepoint, organizes her medicines, and learns more about computers from her aimless grandson (Fred Hechinger). Then she gets a call that her grand baby needs $10,000 cash mailed to his lawyer ASAP. That turns out to be a phone scam, with her daughter (Parker Posey) and son-in-law (Clark Gregg) seeing her helplessness as a sign that she can’t take care of herself anymore. But Thelma decides to follow the trail of breadcrumbs in hopes of getting her money back. Though she gets help from old friend and nursing home resident Ben (Richard Roundtree), Thelma is determined to find the culprits no matter how many times she has to recharge Ben’s scooter.

Older and wiser

In somebody else’s hands, Thelma could easily be turned into a dumb Adam Sandler-esque comedy. You can imagine the punishing amount of jokes about adult diapers, dentures, and old people yapping about what went down “back in [their] day.” Thankfully first-time writer/director Josh Margolin creates just the right amount of lighthearted humor for Thelma, her older friends, and the younger adults who are occasionally just as helpless as their elders. It’s a variety of laughs too, from the running gag of Thelma thinking she recognizes someone before brushing them off the next second, to the surprisingly grim bit where she goes through her contact list discovering how many of her friends are dead. The best thing about Margolin’s script is the respect for his elder characters. Margolin sees them as human beings struggling with their loss of independence and reckoning with their own mortality. Thelma wants to prove she can be on her own, while Ben understands he’s not who he used to be. Whether someone’s all alone or in assisted living, they still have a right to live their lives.

One of the best jokes in Thelma is in its directing. In what was likely the most expensive parts of the movie’s budget, Thelma and her grandson watch Tom Cruise race across buildings in a scene from Mission: Impossible – Fallout. With that cue, Margolin does his best to turn Thelma into a send-up of buddy cop detective movies. The score from Nick Chuba (Shōgun) features peppy bongos and flute parts to back Thelma’s equivalent of Cruise-like stunts. Those range from her slowly rolling over a bed to shuffling discreetly through a lamp store. And that’s not even mentioning the scooter chase that might rival the madness of Furiosa. Margolin gives Thelma a perfect pace while juxtaposing Thelma’s wild adventures with her family’s mundane stress. It’s the human moments that add just enough to make the story mean more than its wacky mystery. Instead, it’s about finding yourself at a point where you feel the most lost.

A final bow.

Richard Roundtree passed away from pancreatic cancer last year. We don’t know how much time he knew he had left while making Thelma, but so much of his performance here feels like a grand finale. He’s still a smooth as can be, making the simple descriptions of berries and melons sound like a come on. The man even makes having a titanium hip as cool as holding a gun. What really drives it home is the heavy heart he brings to Ben’s condition with a powerful revelation about what happened to his late wife. Ben’s acceptance of old age is a crushing blow, but he carries it with dignity and openness to Thelma while just trying to be a helping hand while he still can. Roundtree sells it all like the longstanding pro that he is, leaving behind a final performance that’s as powerful as it is touching.

June Squibb, despite being in her 90s, gives one of the best lead performance of the year. The Oscar-nominee knows how to land a punchline, even if it’s at her own expense, and the fun she has rolling through California radiates off the screen. She has wonderful chemistry with Roundtree, along with everyone else, while still being a compelling presence on her own. The determination she gives to Thelma has the same energy of childhood wonder, while still being as crafty as any femme fatale. But like Roundtree, it’s the heart that she brings to Thelma’s fight for independence that makes her performance hit home. Her chase to justice isn’t out of sadness for her scenario, it’s a means to continue the new phase of her life. “I’ve enjoyed my time alone,” she says, not accepting an end but trying to find a way to keep going.

The bottom line.

It’s rare to find a movie that balances sincerity and silliness so effortlessly that it blocks out any sense of modern cynicism. The humor and heart of Thelma should be considered a miracle given how basic its plot is and how obvious it’d be to make it all lowbrow. Major credit belongs to Margolin for understanding the human possibility in the premise, not to mention his actors for adding the right dimensions to the characters. It’s the most pleasant surprise at the movies so far and might make you hug your grandma a little more next time you see her. And when you do, tell them Thelma sent you.

Thelma hits theaters on Friday, June 21. You can watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. You can read more reviews by Jon Winkler here.