Sundance 2024: ‘Thelma’ Review
Stars: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, Richard Roundtree, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell, Quinn Beswick, Hilda Boulware, Nicole Byer | Written and Directed by Josh Margolin
93-year-old Thelma (Squibb) falls prey to a phone scam claiming to be her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger), threatening a harsh but phony prison sentence if she doesn’t forward $10,000. Cottoning on after the fact – after having recently watched Mission: Impossible – Thelma sets off on the journey of a lifetime in order to pull off the ultimate heist: getting her own back on those who conned her.
Sadly, we’ve all been there – a grandparent calling us in a panic because they’ve received a spam email, can’t get rid of a pop-up advert during their daily scrolling, or worse, falling victim to a nasty phone scam. It’s exactly the situation that the titular Thelma finds herself in, idly plodding along in her daily routine until it’s peaked with the interest of Danny’s internet lessons. At first glance, Thelma seems like a stereotypical hopeless soul when it comes to a world changed, and thanks to the phone scam, she almost is. However, the 93-year-old excels herself by taking her misfortune back into her own hands by facing off with her real-life scammers.
As the narrative suggests, Thelma is an incredibly entertaining ride. This might be a tight-knit family who worries endlessly about their missing grandma (and with good reason), but June Squibb’s performance essentially makes the movie into a one-woman show. Even without digging into the meat of the narrative, the fact an American comedy is being fronted by a female protagonist who’s in her nineties – who doesn’t miss a nanosecond of naturally humorous timing – is astounding. When representation is talked about within media, it certainly does extend to those whose stereotype is sitting in a communal home, waiting for their weekly bingo game.
That being said, Thelma is far from perfect. Where Squibb shines – and even her performance is perhaps overly hammed up – the writing falters. Everything is overly and overtly explained away, from Thelma’s train of thought to the consciousness of a physical action. It’s often laborious and also does a disservice to the picture of the OAP that Josh Margolin is clearly trying to create. Grandson Danny also feels like quite a lazy presence, willingly dossing his life away in the expected messy bedroom in his parent’s house, with little in the way of ambition or desire. By the end of Thelma, not much has changed, with no sense of grandma and grandson growing closer together either. As a joyous aside, Parker Posey shows why she is an excellent casting choice for The White Lotus Season 3.
In the spirit of family, Thelma is likely to become a film that multiple generations can enjoy, but will still probably find plenty of fault with. In terms of heist, it errs on the side of Hallmark, but pulls it back with quick wit and gun-toting skill from Squibb that would leave any Republican shaking in their boots. Whether it’s a conscious choice or not, Thelma hasn’t completely shed from stereotypes, which is sometimes to its disadvantage.
*** 3/5
Thelma screened as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
