“Thelma,” a mildly amusing, highly improbable codger comedy, is so typical of a certain kind of Sundance movie — sentimental, quirky, ingratiatingly likable — that it feels instantly familiar. Mostly, the film serves as a showcase for the wonderful June Squibb; but this rightly revered character actor was not the only notable asset that the writer-director, Josh Margolin, was blessed with for his first feature. Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell and the storied Richard Roundtree (who died last year) were all on hand, making it even more disappointing that Margolin couldn’t provide them with a richer, more satisfying script.
Instead, we have action-movie silliness that’s barely more plausible than the plot of “Sharknado” (2013). When we meet Thelma (Squibb), a sturdy, nonagenarian widow, she’s navigating a computer screen with the help of her doting grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger). Their mutual fondness feels easy and genuine, so when an unknown caller claims that Daniel has been involved in a terrible car accident and needs $10,000 in cash for legal representation, Thelma’s distress and compliance are understandable. Less so is the escalating nonsense that follows as Thelma, learning she has been duped, resolves to track down her scammer and retrieve her money.
Off she goes, to the accompaniment of a particularly grating soundtrack, having co-opted a mobility scooter and the reluctant help of its sharp-witted owner, Ben (Roundtree). As the two steal a gun and try to outrun Thelma’s overanxious daughter and stuffy son-in-law (Posey and Gregg), the chase-movie absurdities are punctuated by age-related pauses, like Thelma’s repeated encounters with random strangers she thinks she recognizes. These tiny ellipses, and Ben’s gentle solicitousness, are far more resonant than the thriller-style trickiness — including an actual explosion — that surrounds them.
Some of the plot is just unnecessary padding, like Daniel’s girlfriend troubles and slacker mentality, spiking in an odd scene where he hysterically bemoans his own uselessness. Yet Margolin’s empathy for Thelma (he based the story on a scam perpetrated on his own grandmother) lends the film a sweetness and occasional poignancy that help mitigate much of the foolishness. The falterings of memory and balance, the falling-away of friends and social engagements — “Thelma” is at its best when noting the vicissitudes of aging, hammered home in Ben and Thelma’s discovery of an old friend’s extreme deterioration. In that sense, the terrifying tug between personal agency and assisted living is both the film’s sourdough starter and its entire loaf.
Movies starring cute children or venerated older actors often coast on the good will of critics and audiences, and “Thelma” currently boasts an astonishing 98 percent rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. That said, the direction is tight, the two leads are charmers and the supporting cast allows them to shine. It all goes down as easily, and as unremarkably, as warm milk. Let’s just say that this one is not for the lactose intolerant.
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