Thelma – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 38 minutes, Director – Josh Margolin

After being scammed over the phone, 93-year-old Thelma (June Squibb) hijacks a mobility scooter and sets out to get her money back.

Often, the term geri-action conjures thoughts of Liam Neeson grumbling with a gun or an all-star cast getting together for another Expendables flick. From now on, I’ll be thinking about June Squibb riding around California on a mobility scooter. Does she also have a gun? Yes. Does she know how to use it? No, but how hard can it be? “Idiots use them all the time” she tells friend Ben (Richard Roundtree – in his final film role) who joins her for the journey.

Squibb’s 93-year-old Thelma Post spends most of her time sewing and getting her grandson, Daniel (Fred Heichinger), to teach her how to use the computer. However, after a scammer (Malcolm McDowell) claims that Daniel has been involved in an accident and money needs to be sent to sort things out, she sends all the money she has in the house to the address given. After discovering the truth Thelma gives Jason Statham a break and sets out to confront the scammers herself, without her concerned family (Parker Posey, Clark Gregg) noticing.

It’s amazing just how amusing watching Squibb and Roundtree cruise around the Californian streets can be. Both give enjoyable performances that manages to also capture a good deal of heart during more, perhaps even unexpectedly, dramatic moments. Elements which lean away from the comedy and into more serious reflections on aging; Thelma humorously rattling off which of her friends she no longer sees for lunch because they’re dead or can’t get out contrasts with seeing an old friend’s mind having deteriorated.

Early on we see Thelma sat with Daniel watching Mission: Impossible – Fallout, amazed at Tom Cruise’s pace and stunts. While Squibb may not be leaping between buildings, moments which parody such franchises have plenty of laughs – watching her try to quietly creep around someone’s house searching for a gun is a highlight. There are occasional likable motifs here and there, and something almost refreshing about the fact that Thelma and Ben aren’t completely technologically inept – we see Thelma using Instagram, even if most of her posts are of random items or places directly in front of her.

While cuts back to Thelma’s family in the retirement home she was last seen visiting, waiting for news of where she might be, don’t always land the hoped for dramatic impact, they generally tend to be brief before we jump back to the action of the titular OAP and her friend, who wants to get back to his home, and its plentiful varieties of much-praised melon, in time for a performance of Annie where he’s playing ‘Daddy’ Warbucks.

Squibb and Roundtree both provide heartful performances which bring out the comedy and help in the more dramatic moments featuring the pair. Once Thelma’s plan kicks in, once we’ve seen the opening stages of her day-to-day, things move smoothly and quickly for just over 90-minutes. This is a likable comedy with an entertaining action spirit at its core.

While scenes with the titular character’s family may not have the most weight, Thelma redefines geri-action for the better with great comedic performances from June Squibb and Richard Roundtree who both bring heart to the humour and more dramatic edges.