PG-13 2024 ‧ Comedy/Action ‧ 1h 37m
In the setup of Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper, Phylicia Rashad plays a senior scammed out of all of her money. She kills herself in shame and Statham seeks to avenge her. Similarly, in Thelma, 93-year-old Thelma (June Squibb) receives a scammer phone call saying her grandson is in trouble and she is swindled out of a large sum of money. Unlike Rashad’s character, when Thelma discovers she was swindled, she seeks revenge herself, and decides to find the scammer and get her money back.
During Thelma’s journey of revenge, she discovers that most of her friends have moved away or have died. Ultimately she turns to Ben (Richard Roundtree), a member of her friend group that she has previously been avoiding. However since she needs a ride and Ben has a scooter, she helps to break him out of his nursing home (with the promise to him that he would be back in time for his debut as Daddy Warbuck’s in the nursing home’s premiere of “Annie” that evening).
In her 90s herself, June Squibb plays a believable senior. Richard Roundtree's likeability pops off the screen in the film and I think this role could have helped spark a career resurgence if not for the fact that he died shortly after the filming.
Thelma was written and directed by Josh Margolin and is based on events that took place with his grandmother, Thelma. I don’t know but would speculate the Thelma character is based on his grandmother and the events of the movie are only loosely based on what actually happened.
Thelma is funny and has heart. I enjoyed Thelma and would give it a solid recommendation.
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