Thelma
written and directed by Josh Margolin
This is a cute little movie about an elderly lady who gets taken in by a scammer, and decides to seek revenge. At some point in the writing of the script, Josh Margolin decided what he had was good enough, and ran with it. Too bad: it could have used another two or three read-throughs for a little punching up. And when he put on his directing hat, it would have been nice if he hadn't been in such a hurry to get the thing done.
For example: in one scene Thelma (June Squibb) forgets to engage the handbrake on the scooter she's stolen from Ben (Richard Roundtree). She left it on a sidewalk as the two of them argue. When she turns to go back to it, it's sitting in the roadway, and of course gets hit by a passing car. It's an amusing bit, but I was distracted by the fact that, even if it had really rolled away unattended, it could not have ended up there, as it would have had to go uphill past a deep-ish gutter to its final perch on the crown of the roadway (where any driver not in a movie would have had plenty of room to go around it); and it was oriented in the wrong direction, neatly stopped perpendicular to the curb, as though, upon its improbable arrival on the crown of the road, it executed a sharp ninety-degree turn before coming to a stop. Here it is hours later, and I'm still thinking about that. It would have been so easy to get right in the filming.
The performances were uniformly okay. Except for Malcolm McDowell as the villain, who delivered at a higher standard, all the capable actors (and the ones that I only assume are capable) were half a beat slow on the dialog. That consistent flaw makes me suspect the editor (who is, probably not coincidentally, also the writer and director), Josh Margolin.
If there were such a thing as dollar movies these days, this would have been perfect, As it is, though, I was disappointed at having paid full matinee price to see it. Now, if I hadn't read any of the promotional material for this movie I might have liked it a whole lot more than I did.The promos promised "a clever spin on movies like MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE..." That is a promise far beyond this production group's ability to deliver; and a couple of shots of Tom Cruise and a clip from one of the films in that franchise don't take the place of intricate high adventure.
The audience, when I saw this movie, consisted of me, one husband-and-wife couple, and about two dozen elderly women, attending in pairs and small groups of up to four. I found the film amusing, if a bit trying of my patience for oft-seen tropes and stereotypes. They, however, hooted and laughed like kids at their first circus. Everything in the movie resonated with every one of these women.
