Thelma (2024) User Reviews

Very funny and entertaining, but also tender and deep

[armando-fumagalli · 9/10 · 24 January 2024]

Watched the film at Sundance Film Festival. It's a really great film, super-funny, super-entertaining, but also with a great heart and a very interesting human exploration of the condition of elderly people. It is also very very tender. The writer/director was inspired by his grandma, and you get this love and tenderness towards the limtis and conditions of the elderly people. The action dimension is funny but realistic, and is played in reference and contrast to the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible franchise. I would say a Mission Impossible with a 93 unstoppable protagonist. Great acting, I liked especially Fred Hechinger, the grandson, and obviusly June Squibb, which ia absolutely great. Not surprised if June Squibb gets a nomination to the Oscars, or the Oscar itself.

Fun and delightful movie

[chenp-54708 · 7/10 · 29 January 2024]

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

"Thelma" isn't perfect but as a whole, it is a fun and entertaining movie about the lives of elderly people, issues of scam calls and family with fun energy, good direction and a wonderful performance from June Squibb. Director Josh Margolin does a pretty good job on blending comedic and dramatic elements together into the narrative with good humor, fun characters and interesting dynamics between the characters. Squibb's character was highly entertaining to observe and while the other characters were okay, I found each of the characters to have some decent chemistry and energy together.

The production is solid, the camerawork is okay, and the dialogue is pretty good, while some moments could be better. Margolin has a lot of fun references to Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible and he was able to add the jokes and references well into the narrative and action that is occurring in the movie. Although I did found the ending to be slightly anticlimactic and a little unrealistic, as a whole, the heart in the movie is strong and Margolin clearly put a lot of passionate into this project.

Fun movie to watch with friends and it really is sweet.

Totally unrealistic ending to an otherwise great movie

[gregl-04396 · 7/10 · 24 January 2024]

I'd describe this movie as more frustrating than anything else thanks to it's rather bad ending. I was thoroughly enjoying it up until the confrontation scene at the light store, due to the complete improbability and lack of logic displayed by all the characters. For Thelma and Ben to not call the police at any point --- or even her grandson --- before going in was ridiculous. For Ben to not call the police after he couldn't hear her anymore was even more ridiculous. For Thelma to pull out the rather large gun from seemingly nowhere (Where did it come from exactly? She had no purse, and had just rolled over a couch minutes prior with no signs of a gun) added to the lack of believability in the entire scene. To top it all off, ignoring the fact that Thelma could barely use a computer at the start of the movie, having Thelma return the money to her bank account online immediately isn't even something you can do without verifying accounts first --- and it's not even possible for an outside account without using a wire transfer (that's why banks have Zelle instead). It makes me wonder if the writer had ever done online banking in his life. (Why even bring the computer into it and add to the improbability of the entire scene? He could have just handed her her cash back.) Then at the end she doesn't even inform the police about tracking down this scammer targeting old people, after spending a large majority of the movie talking about all the issues seniors face!? Wtf. There were way too many plot holes at the end, which was unfortunate as much of the writing during the rest of the movie, especially about people aging, was almost perfectly done. Many of the lines were hilarious. It's like the writer ran out of steam (or maybe the budget) at the end, and wanted to wrap everything up quickly. Unfortunately, the ending made zero sense for multiple reasons and ruined the movie for me.

Hilarious retelling of a true story

[katiekat-80821 · 10/10 · 15 April 2024]

Thelma is a hilarious retelling of a true story of how a 90-something grandma tracked down the men who scammed her and got her money back. (The real "Thelma" can be seen at the very end of the movie.) There are plenty of heartwarming moments mixed in with lots of fun and laughter. It's awesome to see a grandma be her own action hero on her quest to do what the police will not - find the scammers who are calling elderly people to claim their grandchildren are in jail and need an attorney. They then have the mark send a large amount of cash to a PO Box to pay the "retainer". Unfortunately for these guys, they scammed the wrong old lady. As Thelma and her friend Ben cruise the streets of LA on his fancy scooter trying to get to the drop box address, many funny and heartwarming moments happen along the way.