by Julian Wood
Worth: $11.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell
Intro:
There are one or two sight gags and some affecting scenes, but the film as a whole feels inconsequential.
There was once a motorcycle club for the older generation whose motto was ‘grow old disgracefully’. This amusing juxtaposition is quite close to the heart of the comedy/drama, Thelma.
The eponymous Thelma is in her 90s, but she’ll be damned if she is going to let a little thing like age get in the way of her doing what she wants, including doing things others tell her not to do. She gets confused with computers and a scammer steals a small but still significant sum from her account. When she finds out that she has been robbed, she sets about trying to recover the money. She is told by her grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) that she might not be able to get it back, but she is also too headstrong to give up. Her best friend of her own age is Ben (played with much grace and gentle humour by Richard Roundtree in the last year of his life). In the old people’s home, Thelma borrows Ben’s mobility scooter and trundles off on her madcap crusade.
Director Josh Margolin (who also wrote the screenplay) is clearly in love with his characters (Thelma is based on his grandmother, stick around during the credits to see the real life Thelma), but he is not a seasoned director and it shows. There are one or two sight gags and some affecting scenes, but the film as a whole feels inconsequential. A lot of the weight of the film has to be carried by June Squibb in the lead role. She gives it her all, but she hasn’t got that much to work with. The theme of the film – a stubborn old person out of touch with the age and dragging their family into a quixotic mission – is not unlike Alexander Payne’s delightful little film Nebraska. Of course, Squibb was memorably good as the wife to Bruce Dern’s lead in that film, which may be why she would seem good casting for this. Alas, Margolin is no Payne and whereas Nebraska managed to contain both gentle comedy and deep pathos, this film never hits those heights, or depths.
