I’ve seen a lot of films that deal with senior citizen comedy.  The Bucket List, Last Vegas, and 80 For Brady are just a few movies that deal with senior citizen comedy. The latest film that deals with this subgenre of comedy is Thelma starring June Squibb from Nebraska fame. As a man who is on the brink of senior citizenship myself and having an eighty-five-year-old father, I can relate to this story quite a bit.

Thelma (June Squibb) is a ninety-year-old woman who lives by herself in a big house. Her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) checks in on her from time to time. When she gets a call from someone pretending to be her son saying he’s been in a car accident, she gets very worried.  Then she gets another call demanding 10,000 dollars for his medical care. She doesn’t hesitate to get the money together and send it via mail to the address the man on the phone provided. It isn’t until later that day when she hears from her actual son does she realizes she’s been duped by phone scammers.

The writer/director Josh Margolin doesn’t hold back on the comedy involving seniors. There is a lot of stuff involving lost memory,  an old folks home and many sightings of people Squibb’s character thought she knew but she didn’t. It is just something old people do. One senior that she does know who is actually helping is Ben (Richard Roundtree). He must have done this film just before passing away last year, Thelma goes to see him for help and he has a scooter that is very helpful in her mission to retrieve what was taken from her illegally. 

The cast of the film besides Squibb, Hechinger, and Roundtree is littered with people you may know. Clark Gregg and Parker Posey play the parents of Hechinger’s character and the daughter and son-in-law of Squibb’s character. They are a bit lost when it comes to their mother. She is missing and took a man from an old folks home and they can’t figure out how or why.  A senior citizen tracker plays into the comedy of these people looking for Thelma and her friend. It is like a cat-and-mouse game to some extent.  It’s some pretty funny stuff.

With this being a film about senior citizens you know some things are a bit tough to watch. It’s not easy for Thelma to get around or navigate computers and phones. As seniors go this is a problem with them that’s why they are sometimes put into homes or have people that look after them like nurses or caregivers.  It’s sad for me because I’m getting close to being a senior citizen myself but I’m more worried about my father who is eighty-five. He has a hard time navigating technology and has financial problems. This woman and her friend reminded me of him so much. It’s a bit scary.

June Squibb is an actress who has been around for a while. She’s a Broadway-trained actress but she’s seen a little bit of success on the big screen in recent years. Her Academy Award Nominated role in Nebraska in 2014 put her in the public eye. Since then she’s worked with Justin Timberlake on Palmer and she’s in a couple more 2024 films, Inside Out 2 and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. Thelma is a starring role for her and she knocks it out of the park. She owns the screen every moment she’s on it. She has a knack for being funny and getting people to like and believe in her characters. 

Thelma is a funny yet prophetic movie. It gives viewers, especially senior citizens, a look at something that is pretty bad, as in phone scams. Senior citizens are duped all the time by these types of things. Thisvis the second movie that has this as a subplot in it this year. The Beekeeper was the other one. June Squibb is excellent in the role. She brings a funny element to this movie about a real serious topic. The rest of the cast were fine as well. This film is going to get the older audience to fall in love with it. It shows a strong side to senior citizens and what they are capable of when they set their minds to something. 

Thelma will be screened at the Oriental Theatre on 4/14/24 at 4:00 pm, at the Oriental Theatre on 4/15/24 at 12:00 pm, and at the Oriental Theatre on 4/18/24 at 7:00 pm. 

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen