The new movie “Thelma” is the second in recent months about criminal scammers who prey on old people and steal their money. In the film “The Beekeeper” starring Jason Statham an older woman was scammed over the phone by a lowlife criminal who used a virus and computer glitch to steal money from her bank account.
For this film, Thelma, a 94-year-old woman played by June Squibb was called by a scammer, who sounded like her grandson and said he was in jail and needed 10 thousand dollars bail to be mailed to a PO box. For vulnerable old people, scams like this happen all the time and account for billions of dollars stolen every year. For this story, Thelma then decides to take the extremely improbable path of tracking down the criminals and getting her money back.
First, Thelma meets up with her friend at a nursing home Ben, played by the late Richard Roundtree, in one of his best and final acting roles. Thelma then steals his scooter and after Ben catches up with her, they both set out to find the criminals at the PO Box and try to get her 10K back. There are some funny scenes as Thelma struggles to use computers, like most old people who are not computer savvy. There are some well-acted scenes with Thelma’s daughter Gail, played by Parker Posey, and her husband Alan, played by Clark Greg.
The best relationship in this movie is with Thelma and her grandson Daniel, played by Fred Hechinger. There are some very well-done scenes in this movie showing the bond Thelma has with her grandson, especially at the conclusion of this good, but not great movie.
It is very impressive that June Squibb, at age 94, is still acting and doing a very good job in her roles, and this one just might give her another Academy Award nomination.
The Rotten Tomatoes rating of 99% for this movie is too high, with my rating a solid 85% rating and a recommendation to see this movie for its good acting and humor.
A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies. 