Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Thelma Blu-ray Movie Review

Get busy living.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 11, 2024

First-time writer/director Josh Margolin's seriously underrated Thelma is one of the best films of 2024, and you can't convince me otherwise. This poignant, unique, funny, heartbreaking, and supremely entertaining slice of cinema gave 93 year-old June Squibb (About Schmidt, Nebraska) her first lead role as the title character, a widow living alone after the death of her first and only husband, Teddy. Thelma is visited often by her sweet but aimless grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger), whose parents Gail and Alan (Parker Posey and Clark Gregg) henpeck him constantly which has led to a unique bond with Grandma. Despite Daniel's extremely patient guidance on things like e-mail and Internet navigation, Thelma is scammed one day by an unknown caller pretending to be her grandson; this leads to her dropping $10,000 into a mailbox and getting chastised by Gail and Alan, who both think it's finally time for assisted living.

Unsurprisingly, the spunky Thelma won't take this lying down, instead deciding to secretly get her money back by tracking down the scammer's local mailing address and venturing across Los Angeles on an electric scooter, Straight Story style. Under the guise of visiting her old friend Ben (Richard Roundtree -- yes, Shaft himself) to borrow his new wheels, Thelma takes off with Ben as a traveling companion. Naturally, her family panics and begins a fruitless search through the city, but the seniors have a pretty big head start and haven't really left any clues. As they do their best to track down the mysterious post office box, danger and uncertainty wait for them around almost every corner.

It sounds awfully dark, and to be fair Thelma isn't afraid to show the more somber and distressing sides of old age. Thelma and Ben have accepted their broken-down bodies and dwindling contact lists to different degrees, all the while struggling to cope with modern advancements like e-mail and social media. She's perhaps surprisingly the fighter of the two, a tough old bird whose stubborn unwillingness to fade away reminds me of my own dearly departed grandmother, who similarly lived well into her 90s with my grandfather by her side for almost 75 years. Yet Thelma is bracingly funny at times, lightly poking at the perils of senior citizenship -- and of course, the obvious absurdity of its plot -- but in a charmingly dignified way. They're treated with dignity and respect, as is young Daniel, who undergoes his own arc as an early twenty-something whose struggle to find direction fits in neatly with the rest of Thelma's narrative.

Enough can't be said about June Squibb's lead performance, which surely should earn her a second Oscar nomination following her first for Nebraska. (UPDATE: Nope.) She handles everything that Josh Margolin's script throws at her with dignity, humor, and skill, hitting just about every note perfectly while almost single-handedly carrying the film herself. Richard Roundtree isn't far behind in what would unfortunately be his final performance -- he died just over a year ago, several months before the film's theatrical release, and Thelma likewise serves as a memorable late-career highlight for "the first Black action hero". (Don't worry, he gets at least one good hit in.) Fred Hechinger also shines in many a scene with his on-screen grandma, and there's even a third-act appearance for none other than Malcolm McDowell.

A well-written and well-acted emotional roller-coaster, Thelma delights and devastates with a truly unique story. This is top-tier independent filmmaking that absolutely deserves a wider audience and will hopefully get it with Magnolia's Blu-ray, a budget-priced disc that sports solid A/V merits and short bonus interviews with its two oldest stars. It's heartily recommended to established fans and newcomers alike, with a special extra nod towards anyone who has a stubborn old parent or grandparent in their life. I guarantee you'll want to call them right after the credits roll.

For an even warmer take on Thelma (a rare 10/10!), please see Brian Orndorf's theatrical review.

Thelma Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Magnolia Pictures' 1080p transfer of Thelma does this digitally-shot film justice, offering a smooth and essentially trouble-free viewing experience that doesn't suffer from any sort of obvious compression issues outside of very mild banding and posterization. I would assume that its source material is a 2K digital intermediate and is thus supported nicely with rock-solid image detail, appropriately deep black levels, some rather nice visible textures on skin, clothing, and other elements, as well as faithful color representation that isn't prone to bleeding or other problems. Aside from those extremely mild problems mentioned above (which may have been remedied with a dual-layered disc, although there's barely 100 minutes of total HD content here), I've got no real complaints about this presentation.

Thelma Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio holds its own as a quality presentation with a few sonic surprises up its sleeve. By and large this is, of course, a largely subdued presentation that's dialogue driven, rarely rising above what most might call normal speaking levels, and with occasional brief but heavy lapses into silence. Things awaken nicely thanks to Nick Chuba's mostly percussive score, a driving and rhythmic effort that increases tension at several unexpected moments and really throws viewers head-first into the more stressful and chaotic moments that dot Thelma and Ben's adventure. Surrounds get something to do here and LFE even gets a light workout, with almost every other aspect of the film's sound design reserved for natural activity whose width and breadth is fully dependent on the location and number of people present. Overall, this is a solid effort that gets the job done nicely.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

Thelma Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc set ships in a keepcase with terrific poster themed cover artwork; no slipcover or inserts are included, and we only get a pair of view short bonus features. More input from the director would've been great.

• Interviews (2 clips, 3:41 total) - Two brief promotional interview clips featuring June Squibb and Richard Roundtree talking about their respective characters and the film's production. Brief comments from other cast and crew members are also included, as well as a few snippets of rehearsals and on-set footage.

Thelma Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Thelma is the first feature from writer/director/editor Josh Margolin. It's as charming and confident as its then 93 year-old lead, June Squibb, a former theater actress who was 61 when she first appeared on-screen (Woody Allen's Alice) and later impressed in films like About Schmidt and Nebraska, which earned her an Oscar nomination. Moving, funny, poignant, devastating, and ultimately uplifting, Thelma is a truly unique effort that will play very well for two or three separate generations of viewers. Magnolia Entertainment's Blu-ray offers solid A/V specs and is disappointingly short on extras, but it's very much worth tracking down for established fans and first-timers too. Firmly Recommended.