Thelma
A 93-year-old grandma’s mission – and, yes, she chooses to accept it – is to reclaim her money from scammers by any means necessary in this delightful crowdpleaser.
Thelma Post is stubbornly living alone in Los Angeles two years after her husband’s death. She dotes on her slacker grandson Danny, which is how an anonymous phone scammer dupes her into mailing $10,000 cash to “pay Danny’s bail”. When her well-meaning daughter and son-in-law suggest it’s time for assisted living, Thelma vows to get her money back – not just because it’s right, but to prove she still can. First, she’ll need a partner and a getaway vehicle – so Thelma breaks her old friend Ben, and his tandem electric scooter, out of his nursing home.
Improv-comedy veteran Josh Margolin wrote his feature directorial debut as a revenge fantasy after his own grandmother was targeted by fraudsters. The result is a long-overdue showcase for the impish talents of Oscar nominee June Squibb (Nebraska), who, at 94, does her own stunts alongside Blaxploitation legend Richard Roundtree (Shaft himself, in his final role). With Parker Posey and Malcolm MacDowell rounding out its cast, Thelma is a rollicking action-movie parody full of low-key delights: a hearing aid becomes a spy earpiece; an ‘elite’ hacking scene sees Thelma puzzling over a banking website. Throughout, Margolin deftly crafts a film that refuses to patronise older people, delivering an ode to lifelong dignity and determination that’s both defiant and raucous.
“Clever and affectionate … A lovely endeavor from beginning to end: I dare you not to smile.” – Film Inquiry
Tickets
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