Written and Directed by Josh Margolin | 97 min | ▲▲▲▲△

Thelma (June Squibb) is 93 and lives alone in Los Angeles. She’s doing well, though —managing the challenges of modern technology and enjoying the attention of her doting 24-year-old grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger). One day she gets a desperate call from someone she thinks is Daniel,  later discovering it’s a scammer — but not before she mails off $10,000 in cash. Daniel, Thelma’s daughter, Gail (Parker Posey) and son-in-law, Alan (Clark Gregg), take her to the cops but they say there’s not much they can do.

That’s not going to stop Thelma from finding the scammers and getting her money back.

She recruits an old friend of hers, Ben (the late, great Richard Roundtree, the former Shaft in one of his final roles) and his scooter to stake out the PO Box where she sent the money.

What follows is an entirely unlikely dramedy flecked with notes of thriller — Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies are a spiritual guide — though a lot more character-concerned than a worrier of plot. It’s mostly about the fragility and frustrations of old age, and how Thelma refuses to give in to them. This while the family dynamics are a source of humour — Gail and Alan bickering and giving Daniel grief about his inability to come to grips with adult responsibility.

An added thrum of resonance comes from the knowledge this is based on the filmmaker’s actual grandmother, Thelma. A tip of the hat, as well, to Nick Chuba, who composed a fantastic and funky Lalo Schifrin-esque score.

It’s hard to believe but this is 94-year-old Squibb’s first starring role. That makes Thelma the peak of a fantastic career that includes excellent work in About Schmidt, Nebraska and, recently, Inside Out 2,

Just goes to show you, it’s never too late to get your name up in lights.