Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.
Thelma is a heartfelt and gently subversive action-comedy elevated primarily by June Squibb's warm, committed performance as the determined 93-year-old protagonist. The plot is a clever inversion of the elderly-as-victim trope, turning a phone scam into a quirky quest narrative, though it remains fairly modest in scope and ambition. The cinematography is functional and unremarkable — competent but not distinctive. The novelty lies mostly in its lead character and gentle tonal balance between comedy and genuine sentiment about aging and autonomy, though it doesn't reinvent any wheels. The ending is satisfying but predictable, wrapping things up in a conventionally warm way.