Movie Review: Thelma

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A hilarious and heartfelt comedy-drama. 

This movie marks the feature-film debut of director and writer Josh Margolin. This film was inspired by his real-life grandma, who was also named Thelma. The lead role of Thelma went to June Squibb, who has been acting in movies for decades. At 94 years old this marks her first time playing a lead role in a movie. It tells the story of how after being scammed out of money on the phone an elderly woman escapes her family and tracks down the people who stole her money.  

This film is a sheer delight from start to finish. While I expected this movie to be funny, I did not expect to laugh as much as I did. I was not the only one in the movie theater (I saw this as part of AMC's Screen Unseen) laughing my head off. The whole audience was laughing themselves silly watching this (considering that the audience didn't know what they were about to watch says something). Nearly every joke in this movie hits the mark perfectly. While the humor can get over the top at times, there are also times when it has funny observations at the tiny things in life. It also does a great job finding humor in what happens as we grow older, while not turning its characters into jokes. We are often times laughing with these characters rather than at them. Because of this underneath all the wonderful humor (which even includes lampoons of action movies), this is a very warm-hearted film. While you are laughing yourself silly, you also become very emotionally connected to the characters. The characters may have their flaws, but they are all very likable and good people underneath. This helps so much during the scenes where the film takes a more serious tone. The movie takes a look at some unpleasant subjects such as feeling like you are useless and in everyone's way. Though this look often focuses on being old, it is something that even younger movie goers can relate to on a certain level as most of us have felt this way for one reason or another in our lives. This is not only explored through Thelma but even her 24-year-old grandson as well. He often times feels like a failure, who can never amount to anything. This drama is just as good as the drama surrounding Thelma. What makes this movie work as both a comedy and a drama is that the humor (no matter how over the top it can get) comes directly from the characters and story. Because of this it can get as silly as the filmmakers want without ever getting in the way of the drama. This also makes it so that the more serious scenes don't seem out of place amongst all the comedy. 

Though the entire cast is great, it is June Squibb and Richard Roundhouse (in his final movie role due to his recent passing) who steal the show. The two make an excellent comedy team, playing off each other perfectly. The two have wonderful chemistry and it is a joy to watch them share the screen. 

This is a comedy-drama that works wonderfully as both a comedy and a drama.