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Within the opening minute, Thelma already proves itself to be a consummate delight. Writer-director Josh Margolin sets us up in a distinct environment and allows us to understand our eponymous heroine instantly.
I thought of Mr. Frederickson riding the chairlift in UP as the inimitably plucky June Squibb (Nebraska) goes about her typical day. We witness her technological struggles with email in spite of the support of her affectionate grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger‘s charisma is off the charts here).
Then, between an on-brand needlepoint title card and one of the finest Tom Cruise homages, we have everything we need to enjoy all the film has to offer thanks to the marked juxtaposition of the pre-existing world.
It’s priming us for what this movie will be, and though I’ve never seen a live-action nonagenarian star like this, the prospect is certainly tantalizing. Beyond the logistics, it begs the question of why so few films have tried this before (unless you count Bruce Willis and the Retired, Extremely Dangerous gang).
The greatest compliment to Thelma is that it pays off on the premise in spades, but far from just being a riff on a genre piece, it transcends it to give us so much more with humor and grace.
The Scam
Thelma‘s inciting incident cut through me like ice. She gets a call from her grandson; he’s in jail, and there’s some mention of a pregnant woman too. His voice sounds strange but he needs money. A dubious “attorney,” voiced by Malcolm McDowell, calls shortly thereafter.
In a moment of disorientation and panic, Thelma accedes to their request for $10,000 and goes to the post office to mail it off to the P.O. Box provided. It doesn’t help that none of her family are responsive. After all, they have jobs and lives to lead and so the money is sent off before anyone can stop her. It creates a heightened thriller out of the breathless tension of the music and the staccato in what would otherwise be a mundane setting
The reason this moment impacted me so viscerally is because it wasn’t just a movie; it happened to my loved ones too. What a phenomenal way to take such a real, vulnerable moment and make it something more with the imagination and trappings of a movie.
Humor and Thrills
Thelma is at its best blending its innate sense of humor and thrills. It turns the dramatic situation on its head with the interplay between such vets like Parker Posey and Clark Gregg playing our heroine’s daughter and son-in-law.
In one scene they have a conversation on the couch about whether or not it’s time to transition Thelma into assisted living. These are, again, sober, real discussions that grown children must have with their aging parents. We must consider them and yet Thelma, a woman with a healthy respect for errands, vows to track down the money by herself.
If Tom Cruise, the ageless wonder, can do it, she can too. Perhaps this isn’t the right time to mention the kinetic scene, featured early on, comes right before he broke his leg on Mission Impossible: Fallout. It put the production on hiatus for months. Being an action star comes with its share of hazards.
Thankfully, Squibb was not harmed in the making of this movie, but that doesn’t mean her character does not have to face the requisite danger of such a role. She pays a visit to an assisted living facility, and it feels a bit like Bogart in a Raymond Chandler yarn poking around for leads.
I visibly grinned from ear to ear seeing Richard Roundtree — what a boss. It’s moments like these that feel reminiscent of meeting an old friend once more because, for the aware viewer, he carries a proud lineage with him (There’s also a bittersweet aspect with his passing in 2023). Thelma was his final film.
Thelma absconds with Ben’s sleek red scooter like an obstinate child going on an adventure. She flees the premises only for him to cut her off in a faceoff. Their exchange is priceless:
“Please don’t make me go through you, Ben.”
“No, you couldn’t. I have a titanium hip.”
Thankfully she relents because there are few joys as great as seeing Roundtree as her ride-or-die co-pilot. They are on this journey together and their first stop is another old friend’s home to procure a firearm as a precautionary measure…
source: Magnolia Pictures
The interludes with Thelma and Ben on the lam allow the high-strung family dynamic to come into sharper relief. Posey still has it and Gregg, while never trying to upstage her, offers his own comic foibles as two parents much like any others — they worry about their parents and they worry about their kids — and it all comes out of a place of love.
No ground is untrod from their son’s lost driver’s license to a recent break-up with his girlfriend. What’s great is how all of this is fully integrated into the plot as the parents and child frantically work with the retirement home staff to locate their elders.
Eventually, they are tracked down so Thelma takes the chase on foot using a bit of a homemade counterespionage measure to throw them off the scent. Despite the caliber of the entire cast, Roundtree is her greatest scene partner because he is her peer and a voice of a reason — a man who has enough experience in life to call her out in a loving manner.
He entreats her that they need to take care of each other because they are the only ones left. They’re both widowed and many of their friends are gone. It acknowledges something I can’t quite describe even as I understand it to be true. There’s the sense of growing old and surviving to see your friends either pass away or be diminished. Realizing that time is inevitable and our bodies are fallible. At some point, our bodies or our minds will fail us.
Thelma is such a fiercely independent even obdurate lady; that’s part of the reason she’s lived such a long and fruitful life. However, her friend reminds her of the tension of self-reliance and independence to the detriment of friends and family. She must consider what price she is willing to pay. It’s lovely to watch Roundtree‘s redemption as he’s able to offer her the helping hand he couldn’t lend his late wife.
In the meantime, Thelma’s grandson is beating himself up for losing his grandma — though she has quite a bit of agency in that department. It feels like this one failure personifies the crises Danny’s experiencing in all facets of his life. He wants her to have a peaceful final act and a good death and while his father might be persnickety, he’s right about one thing: there is no good death.
Malcolm McDowell augments the casting of Roundtree as both men are allowed to build on the tradition they have bequeathed all of us grateful moviegoers over a history of films. What a pleasure it is to see them in roles done with a sense of humor, but also a respect for their reputations and what they represent to all of us out there in the dark.
It’s more than a simulacrum; it dignifies their legacies while still acknowledging the inevitable passage of time. They are no longer Shaft and Alex DeLarge and that’s as it should be.
A three-hander with Squibb, McDowell, and Roundtree sounds like the stuff dreams are made of, and it doesn’t disappoint between our star packing a pistol or McDowell‘s iconic glower. I’ll allow you to imagine the rest.
Conclusion: Thelma
Squibb and Hechinger make such a meaningful intergenerational nucleus for the film. It turns the story into more than a goofy family drama or a geriatric genre parody. It’s about something of substance and truth; I feel it in my bones even as a younger man who is nevertheless growing older by the hour. UP was an extraordinary tale about the bond of friendship and adventure, and I see much the same in Thelma. That’s why this story moves me so.
The prevailing refrain of Margolin‘s project is how it supersedes expectations in all manner of ways. There’s a gratifying resolution with Thelma facing off against her arch nemesis: the computer. Tom Cruise cameos again, and all the other performances have a satisfying vitality. It gives us everything we require from our action movies and so much more.
What a precious thing it is to have time with our elders — people we love and who love us. Those days are dwindling for me. My Grandparents are almost all gone. Hug them if you can and cherish the time. It cannot last forever and that’s okay. That is life. But for the time being, it means there’s an awful lot to live for. June Squibb is an inspiration to us all, representing a life well-lived at 94 years young. Bless her.
Thelma was released on June 21, 2024, in the United States.
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