THELMA

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Storyline (warning: spoilers)

The film immediately establishes the uniquely strong bond between 93-year-old Thelma (June Squibb) and her Gen Z grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger), an affable slacker.
Thelma and Daniel have a common problem: they’re infantilized, chiefly by Daniel’s parents, Thelma’s daughter Gail (Parker Posey) and husband Alan (Clark Gregg). We are introduced to the couple during their busy respective workdays, which prevents them from answering Thelma’s frantic calls. As a result, she gets taken by a telephone scam that costs her $10,000.
Thelma sensitively portrays the humiliation of this swindle and the way it forces Gail and Alan to wonder if the time has come to put Thelma in a home. But Thelma has another idea: she decides to get her money back.
Thelma may not move so quickly anymore, but Margolin’s camera frequently does. And his editing has a sharp sense of comic timing. A running joke in the film is the way it stylistically imitates “Mission: Impossible” (Thelma is watching Cruise sprint across a European rooftop, and it later inspires her to action), except here, the impossible mission may involve getting off the floor after a fall.
Thelma’s unlikely accomplice is Ben (Richard Roundtree), a widower and old acquaintance whom she finds a bore—that is, until she needs his cherry red two-seater scooter.
Thelma makes questionable choices in her action-packed journey, but her refusal to give up her independence or be a victim ultimately makes her as heroic as a younger man jumping from one rooftop to another just to show us he can.