Thelma: A Nonagenarian's Mission Impossible

 


I was surprised to find Thelma takes inspiration from the Mission: Impossible franchise, but as strange as it may sound it works. Thelma (June Squibb) takes matters into her own hands after being duped by a phone scammer and has to face various challenges to track down the scammer. As you can imagine, watching a woman in her 90s undertake this quest is quite entertaining. The premise of Thelma is quite funny with laugh-out-loud moments throughout, but the film also has a lot of heart.

Thelma enlists the help of her friend Ben (Richard Roundtree) early in the film. I appreciate Thelma and Ben's friendship. It comes across as very genuine, and you can tell the two have a lot of history together. They balance each other really well. I believe Thelma's relationship with her grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) is the highlight of Thelma. The chemistry between the two is palpable, and they effectively capture the grandmother/grandson dynamic. How much Daniel and Thelma care for one another is quite moving.

Thelma handles the difficult topic of a demographic prone to scams with a lot of care. The seriousness of the issue is depicted, but the film finds good ways to instill humor. The cinematography in a movie like Thelma might not wow you, but I'm confident the story will resonate. Not all of the characters are great, but the ones that work really work. At the very least it's neat to see June Squibb get her first starring film role after a decades-long career. If you check out Thelma I think you'll be left with at least a couple questions. Could my grandma ever do something like this? And when was the last time I talked to my grandma? A combination of funny and serious, just like Thelma. 

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