Louise isn’t here, but this Thelma is a nice old lady trying to do her own stunts.
June Squibb continues to delight us with her age and performances in such films as “Nebraska,” and now, we have “Thelma,” which takes a simple idea in turns into something unique and funny. I knew this would be a good movie, but since I didn’t see the trailer, I didn’t know it would take a different approach to the elderly comedy genre.
I can image how degrading Diane Keaton would have played the part, considering her recent track record of bad movies from “Love the Coopers” (which Squibb was unfortunately apart of) to “Mack & Rita,” which is why I have skipped “Book Club: The Next Chapter” and “Summer Camp.” I long for the good old days of “Annie Hall,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Something’s Gotta Give.”
But “Thelma” stars Squibb, and she delivers with the right kind of energy and emotions, both of which are reminiscent of how elderly people would deal with computers, scams, and modern day movies these days. I try to respect the elderly based on their old fashioned ways of life and what they have learned from their experiences, and I’m glad this movie respects them, too.
We meet Thelma Post (Squibb), an elderly woman, whose grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) helps her with the computer, but neither he nor her daughter (Parker Posey) could warn her about scams. She receives a phone call from a man claiming to be Daniel in jail, and is asked to mail the bail money to the address of the fake lawyer (Malcolm McDowell).
Inspired by the latest “Mission: Impossible” movie, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and needs Daniel to be her driver at the moment.
She also talks about how most of her friends are dead. There are a few who are still alive like the stage actor Ben (the late Richard Roundtree), whom she takes for a ride along on his scooter for her mission, and Mona (Bunny Levine), who has a gun. Whether they were her friends or the people in her lifetime, there’s something interesting about them that keeps you involved. They aren’t characters in a minstrel show for old people; they’re characters who actually want to be part of a different approach to this genre.
And since Thelma goes on this mission, it has to worry his grandson, her daughter, and her husband Alan (Clark Gregg). Yes, some of their scenes get exhausting, but there are also qualities in Daniel, who has relationship troubles and doesn’t know what the future holds for him career wise. He looks like a slacker, and feels like one, too, but he does love his grandma enough to help her with whatever she needs him to do. In fact, Hechinger and Squibb have much better chemistry in the grandchild-grandson formula, than Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon had a decade ago in “Tammy.” Now that film was disrespectful towards the elderly.
Writer/director Josh Margolin makes an impressive funny and affective debut, and he guides Squibb with a certain kind of charm that has us rooting for her to get back at the scammer. She doesn’t need Jason Statham to handle them, as he did in “The Beekeeper.” She needs some help from her grandson, and Shaft himself. Rest in Peace, my friend. So, while Squibb can delight kids in her cameo voice role as Nostalgia in “Inside Out 2,” she can entertain adults in “Thelma.” Hop on the scooter.
