Thelma

Thelma

Deceived by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, a 90-year-old woman sets out on a quest to reclaim what was taken from her.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 97 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
  • Stars: Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, Malcolm McDowell, June Squibb, Clark Gregg, Richard Roundtree, Nicole Byer, Coral Peña, Chase Kim, Sheila Korsi, Annie O'Donnell, Hilda Boulware, Zoë Worth, Ruben Rabasa, Quinn Beswick, Bunny Levine, Annie Korzen, Ivy Jones, Sandra Lee Gimpel, Aidan Fiske
  • Director: Josh Margolin
 Comments
  • steiner-sam - 30 June 2024
    A lot of fun, with many scenes we oldster can recognize
    It's a comedy about old seniors and their families set over several days in modern times in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, California. Grandma Thelma (June Squibb) is 93, lives alone in her home, and has been widowed for two years. Her grandson, Danny (Fred Hechinger), is a 24-year-old who remains unfocused in life but dearly loves Thelma. He drives her when required and serves as her tech support with computers. Thelma's daughter, Gail (Parker Posey), and son-in-law, Alan (Clark Gregg) are overly fussy parents.

    The story revolves around Thelma being caught in the grandparent-fake grandchild scam and sending $10,000 to a local scammer (Malcolm McDowell). When Thelma decides to recover her money, she seeks the help of an old friend, Ben (Richard Roundtree), and his two-seat scooter. The story displays Thelma's independent streak and many of the foibles of old age while resolving the scam storyline.

    "Thelma" is a lot of fun, with many scenes that folks over 75 can recognize, but the elderly are not mocked. The plot is an unrealistic set-up since most scams of this type would be conveniently local. Thus, it's all built on a shaky premise. The humor is gentle, if exaggerated, and the relationship chemistry between Squibb and Hechinger is outstanding. Posey's and Gregg's characters are not as well developed.
  • stevendbeard - 25 June 2024
    Comedic Look At A Real Situation
    I saw Thelma, starring June Squibb-Hubie Halloween, Love the Coopers; Fred Hechinger-Pam & Tommy_tv, The White Lotus_tv; Richard Roundtree-the Shaft movies, Speed Racer and Malcolm McDowell-the Halloween movies, Fantasy Island_tv.

    This is a comedic look at a real situation. In fact, it was recently covered by Jason Statham in a movie called The Beekeeper but it was a little more dramatic there. June plays a 93 year old woman that falls victim to a scammer, claiming to be her grandson, Fred, and says that he needs ten thousand dollars or he will go to jail. Of course, she gathers the money and mails it to the address given to her-she loves her grandson very much-and of course, she is duped. Malcolm plays the man targeting her and Richard plays a friend that tries to help June get her money back. June and Richard try to track Malcolm down and there are some action scenes-not quite up to Jason's level, but still entirely watchable-and I read that June did most of her own stunts. FYI: this is also Richard's last movie since he passed away in October of 2023 and although June has been in around 98 movies, this is her first time being the headlining star. Overall, it's a nice, feel good movie.

    It's rated PG-13 for language and has a running time of 1 hour & 37 minutes.

    I enjoyed it and would probably buy it on DVD. Shari liked it too.